The Sigla Blog

Are Middlesbrough the ultimate comeback kids?
Three weeks ago, they were 3-0 down to Basle in the UEFA cup and managed to bash in the required four goals to win the game. In tonight’s semi-final, they were in exactly the same situation against Steaua Bucharest - and again they knocked in four goals and bagged […]

There’s a fascinating article in today’s Guardian about John Betjeman’s later dabblings in music. In the 1970s he recorded four albums on the Charisma label which consisted of the poet:

“reading his works over a musical backing that includes tea-dance jazz, brass bands, rock guitar and, yes, the occasional fat and funky bassline.”

Apparently Nick Cave […]

I’ve just heard via Suzy and Damien that Fiona has pulled the plug on Mental Meanderings. I’m really sorry to hear this, as it was one of the strongest blogs around - articulate, intelligent, insightful with exhaustively researched pieces and thoughtful commentary. Fiona has also blogged about women, gender and blogging and it seems […]

As a kid, I was a big fan of the Nancy Drew books (before I moved on to the hard stuff - Agatha Christie) so I’m mildly curious about the fact that filming has started in Los Angeles on a new film starring the teen sleuth. Set in, according the press release, “the fast-living, self-indulgent […]

As a combination of work and pleasure, today I’m listening to the following:
- Just Like The Fambly Cat by Grandaddy (sadly, it’s their farewell album)
- Juana Molina’s superb, sublime album Son
- The debut from Jack Black’s new outfit of pals, The Raconteurs
I’ve also just watched PJ Harvey’s Tour DVD Please Leave Quietly and the […]

I notice Damien has a fancy new picture montage* of himself in various guises at the top of his blog. Now is it just me, or in the first image on the extreme left, does he resemble a young a John Banville?
* (I can never hear the word ‘montage’ without thinking of that […]

If there’s a band I’ll never tire of it’s Kraftwerk. Ah those Teutonic, robotic Gods. No one makes rhythmic, plinky-plonky, dancey, minimalist, prog-rock electronica like them and I was hooked from the first time I heard them. I was about 11 when I taped the video for ‘Musique Non Stop’ (one of my less obvious […]

The author of one of my recent book haul books is in Dublin next week. Lionel Shriver, author of the 2005 Orange Prize winning novel We Need To Talk About Kevin will be reading from and discussing her new book Double Fault on Wednesday 26th April @ 7.00 p.m at Rathmines Library. No booking […]

My book fetish - especially when it comes to serendipity knows no bounds. Even when the teethering unread pile by my bed threatens to topple over and smother me in the night, I can’t help myself accumulating more. Recently, I went along to a sale of work with my dad. It’s an annual excursion we […]

During the week I played The Spinto Band’s album for a friend who remarked: “They’ve got that really trendy sound, don’t they?”. I assumed his blunt observation referred to the kind of multi-instrumental flaky pop rock beloved of The Flaming Lips and lesserly Clap Your Hands Say Yeah favoured by the Delaware six piece. Last […]

To the strain’s of Liverpudlian anthem, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, Manchester’s most famous son, clad in a smart black suit, strode purposefully to the Olympia’s centre stage. Moments before when the lights dipped, the crowd chanted Morrissey’s name and he obliged by kicking things off with a theatrical bow before launching into ‘First Of The […]

I’ve just heard that Muriel Spark has died. Best known for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the book is a wonderfully bitter study of a zealot’s undoing (Maggie Smith is never better in the film version ). I have a half written post about a recent book haul, including some I picked up at […]