Demba Bye!?

As the league table stands Newcastle United are sitting pretty, 7th in the league, 15 goals from Demba Ba and the summer transfer activity seems to be playing really well. January is now here and as like last year Newcastle have a centre forward in the ranks that is stirring up some interest from the other “big” clubs. Although a release clause is in place for an unconfirmed sum, the geordie faithful have been assured he will not leave in January like Andy Carroll did last year. Rumours are starting to emerge of Carroll to come back to Newcastle for a cut price £10 million as his Liverpool career has struggled to kick start like it did at the Toon.

The early preseason controversy surrounding Newcastle has been quashed and early doubters have been left eating their own words. Screams from fans that no striker had been “bought” all summer signalled doom, but if anything Ba has proved that the best things in life are free. Fans were unhappy with the influx of french talent arriving at the club and no Marque big name signings happening or in the pipeline.

Trouble is… Fans are to used to seeing big names arrive at the club and at one time this would see the club move forward, recently it meant bloated pay checks and under performing players. Now a structured wage bill and players that truly look like they want to win games and strive for their own and most importantly, the clubs success. Silenced fans you would think? Not the Toon Army, only got louder and even more behind the club than ever. Mike Ashley and Derek Lambias are even in the good books… for now.

One thing I am extremely pleased with alongside the superb performances is… the 3-0 win over Man United? well yes, but… Joey Barton and his gradual demise. As an outspoken character he can be controversial for the right reasons, but mostly in his case the wrong reasons. His outbursts towards the Newcastle board gave reason for the fans to doubt the club and the direction it was going in. He left for QPR, more money and more problems it would appear as they hover above the drop zone. He has even publicly accused a player of playacting to get him sent off, a stunt he pulled earlier in the season whilst wearing the black and white against Arsenal. Barton said before leaving that the Newcastle board wanted to replace him with a younger and cheaper player, that player turns out to be Yohan Cabaye.

A difficult 5 weeks are ahead with the African Nations Cup taking Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote away… but I think the club can hold on and come the end of the season can be looking pleased with it’s self.

I will say this though… Andy Carroll is like a flight with EasyJet, it’s great until you’ve tried B.A… eh?! get it?

Monday Bullshit?

Posted from all over the interweb comes this from 2 maths teachers with a combined total of 70 yrs. Experience… Apparently.
It has an indisputable mathematical logic. This is a strictly mathematical viewpoint…it goes like this:

What Makes 100%?

What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?
We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%.

How about achieving 103%?

What makes up 100% in life?

Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

And
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But,
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And,
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you!

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty, that while:
Hardwork and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there;
Its the Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top.

Now I know why some people are where they are!

A Remix within a… Remix?

Earlier this week my attention was brought to the below video… as a fan of The Matrix I was intrigued to see the origins of the movie examined. One thing this video has done is lead me to a 4 part series in the creativity of well, anything.

 

Everything is a Remix is an excellent watch… so far 3 parts released with part 4 due late October. So far music and the realms of creativity have been looked at. It makes you question what you would once perceive to be a creative genius or truly inspirational is really just that… or maybe they are a DJ of their selected arts, mixing and scratching… I dunno, just an idea.

Head on over to Everything is a Remix for more…

Steve Jobs…

Steven Paul “Steve” Jobs… Inventor and Businessman, created the first truly viable “micro” computer with a graphical user interface and would later introduce the world to the iMac/Pod/Phone/Pad. I can say that Steve’s work has in many ways affected and influenced the way we use computers, listen to music and even watch a film about toys.

27 years ago saw Apple announce at a Keynote the release of the two most inspirational pieces the company would produce… The Mackintosh and the Ridley Scott produced advert 1984.

 

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Steve…

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”

‎”A computer is the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with. It’s a bicycle for our minds”

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”

Thank You Steve.

R.I.P

An Adder, Eels and the Manx Missile!

The Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish won the 2011 UCI Road World Championships. A massive High Five to him and Team GB… excellent team ride and a superb sprint finish!

For some reason this evening I found myself humming this song from the Mighty Boosh… legendary program, Second Series is my favorite.

And then one of my favorite quotes from Blackadder, from the Third series episode Dual and Duality. Genius…

Nike to the Future!

The 80′s, a splendid era… one of which I was born in and to this day enjoy the best that time offered. In ’85 the film Back to the Future was released… a film that produced in my opinion, an epic trilogy of flux capacitor proportions. Now it wasn’t until the second instalment that the movie francise produced one of its many iconic pieces, the Nike Tennis shoe… a revolutionary shoe that in 2015 could tie its own laces and had lights and looked fricken’ awesome! A shoe which was later dubbed the Air McFly was released under the name of Hyperdunk and shared an uncanny resemblance to shoe worn by McFly in the movie.

So as we all know by now… Nike has released the shoe from the movie, named the MAG. It sports the flashing lights that can run for 4 hrs off a single charge… no self tying laces, yet! that comes in 2015 remember. The shoe has been released in a limited run of 1500 pairs and all proceeds will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s disease research. On average they expect a pair to sell for $4000… thats the price you pay for the future. Hit up Ebay for bidding fun!

Also the shoe has come with an Awesome set of promo films… and here it all is for your viewing pleasure.

McFly’s Closet…

Back for the Future…

Head on over to Nike B4TF for more video goodness!

Go on… it’s your Density. Now make like a tree and get outta here!

My Newcastle United!

So as the season has started and with a draw against Arsenal and an away win against the scum/unwashed/Sunderland you would think things are tip-top. Negative… With the sale of numerous high profile players to be replaced by foreign imports and the club still lacking in the transfer market to cover gaps has fans and pundits questioning what this coming season will bring. Relegation? Mid-table? who knows… the transfer window is still open and there are 36 games still left to play to determine the fate of Newcastle United’s premier league season.

Today has seen the most likely departure of Joey Barton, a player that has always been surrounded by drama is leaving the club following an outburst on Twitter regarding the clubs transfer policy and is being allowed to leave on a free transfer. Fair enough… the player is unhappy to such an extent that he has to air his views publicly, creating further unrest for the club and fans. A player so unhappy should be allowed to leave, maybe not for free but still he should go. At this stage you can’t hold a player against his will just because of his quality, Barton has handled the whole affair poorly and in turn has only created more unrest among the fans of Newcastle United… The fans he loves and respects so much.

Fans are split in where the problem in all this is… some say the board, some say he brought it on him self. I think he brought it on himself, if you’re prepared to act defamatory towards your employer then there will be consequences and that goes for anybody, not just a £50 grand a week footballer. He is fortunate enough that his employers reputation is poor/vilified/hated etc etc that he can deflect the issue back to them via and at the expense of the Newcastle United fans.

If you want to leave, you want to leave… And as an employer why would you want to have someone in your workforce that wants to leave so much and pay them for the privilege of potentially ruining morale, not giving 100% and so on and so on. I will give Barton credit though as he is a grafter and has given nothing but a 100% last season and in the two games so far.

These transfers will all be forgotten about soon enough, players come and go. Andy Cole was sold to Manchester United and Keegan had to answer to the fans, David Ginola, Les Ferdinand, Laurent Robert, Nolberto Salano, James Milner and even as far back Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle and even Malcolm “SuperMac” Macdonald have left the club and left the fans wondering why? hindsight is a wonderful thing and one day the sale or departure of any player makes sense. Whether it’s a case of seeing the positives or coming to terms with it is another thing. As before and countless again, the club will move “forward” with the backing of some of the best fans in the world.