tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61533642024-03-12T22:50:48.606-05:00Stay-At-Home Indie PopMid-life's too short, and other complaints Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.comBlogger165125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-39493973462026069512020-01-31T06:12:00.000-05:002020-01-31T06:12:13.314-05:00A short rant about England on Brexit Day
On Wednesday I flew home from England. On Thursday I wrote this, in a mood. I'm still in that mood today, so here it is.
Clowns for Crowns turning their backs on progress
Brexit is a manifestation of England's desire to return to a past that never was. It's a consequence of Britain's slanted and archaic electoral system, due for reform hundreds of years ago, paralysed by Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-41512163173093118822018-12-19T06:29:00.001-05:002018-12-19T06:29:46.176-05:00Albums of the Year, 2018I paid more attention this year, which is why I probably think it's been a 'good' year for new music, and why I'm bothering with a list for the first time since 2012. With the usual disclaimer that even if I'd listened to every record released in 2018 at least 15 times over, this list of favourites (as opposed to 'the best') would still be random and entirely subjective, and would read Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-34966544477427618582018-12-18T05:09:00.001-05:002021-12-11T06:12:47.574-05:00Books of the Year, 2018
I know - who publishes a top four? The answer: people who only read four books published this year that are worth mentioning. Apologies to the thousands of other authors I neglected because I got distracted by football magazines, music autobiographies, Orwell's wartime essays and diaries, and the instructions to my bluetooth speaker (still haven't worked it out).
4. The Day That Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-76611972436614752292017-06-08T04:17:00.003-05:002018-11-22T08:14:24.104-05:00The Quiet Fan
UPDATE - NOVEMBER 2018
I've added another new blog to this network, The Quiet Fan, to back the book of the same name (see picture), published by Unbound in the autumn of 2018.
The Quiet Fan is partly a memoir about watching Lincoln City, Rangers FC and Scotland in the 70s and 80s, and part philosophical musing on the way that supporters relate to the game and what really constitutes Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-77713366567313049912016-08-04T03:26:00.000-05:002016-08-04T03:26:03.977-05:00Referee Tales - new offshoot blog
Referee tales - please come and visit.
There is a new blog in this network, Referee Tales, and a re-activated blog, World Cup Human Rights. The former bills itself as "dispatches from the amateur leagues of a multi-ethnic city somewhere on Earth". It aims to update at least once or twice a week*. The latter is a campaign and commentary blog urging soccer/football fans to boycott the 2018 and Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-41195387305599751782014-07-09T13:48:00.002-05:002016-08-04T03:13:15.825-05:00SAHIP Laid To RestOne daughter has just left home for good, the other will soon be old enough to drive. My pseudo-identity as a stay-at-home dad, or primary care-giver (to use the technical term), is pretty much falling away, bar the shopping, the cooking and the laundry. It feels like the right time to sign off on this blog and direct you (yes, all three of you) towards a more subject-specific blog about my Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-45569208416563786742014-04-03T08:25:00.003-05:002014-04-03T08:25:59.274-05:00Great Suburban Traditions: Number 14 – Rush Hour
Here we go again... (pic: SAHIP)
Around once a year I get caught up
in the rush hour. I think that the reason I’ve never had a ‘proper’ career is
that I still remember all the rush hours of my 20s, when I had the grave
misfortune of going to work every day. Specifically, I remember how rush hours took
at least two hours out of your day, every day, just so that you could get to and
from a job Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-72766823854909982332013-12-16T21:43:00.003-05:002013-12-16T21:43:55.015-05:00Celebrating the Lost Art of Imperfection
Murky and mediocre - how ourpictures used to look.
The other night a friend of mine
told me that he and his fiancé had been planning to invite myself and the
family round for something to eat, but that his betrothed was hesitating.
“We’ve been having work done on the
house, and she wants it to look perfect,” he said. “She’s a perfectionist.” I
told him not to worry. If there’s one thingIan Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-12199720579605322042013-11-24T22:47:00.000-05:002020-02-26T08:08:20.417-05:00Mazzy Star at the Fillmore, Silver Spring
Reluctant Stars: I suppose a smile's out of the question?
The bloke behind me at the Mazzy
Star concert last night had a profoundly cerebral reaction to the band’s first song.
“Whoooooooo!” he shouted, about five seconds in. He knew the song, you see, and
was excited to hear them play it live. It turned out that he knew all the songs
that Mazzy Star played, because five seconds into every Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-16152543650147052542013-09-05T11:37:00.001-05:002013-09-05T11:39:57.151-05:00Josh Burdette - DC's Favourite Bouncer
Why do good guys have to die? (Pic: Semi-CharmedLifeDLFPixelOate@gmail.com)
Not many people claim to have favourite security guards, and I would never have thought about having one either if Josh Burdette, head of security at the 9:30 Club, hadn’t died earlier this week in his premature 30s. From the photo you’ll see why Josh was hard to miss, but he was nothing like many in his profession whoIan Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-20079017741367461472013-07-15T22:39:00.001-05:002013-07-15T22:39:26.444-05:00Great Suburban Traditions: Number 13 - The Sunday Morning Trip to Home Depot<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-16720624902869783382013-04-16T09:15:00.001-05:002013-07-16T15:35:13.696-05:00Should You Give A Bum A Buck?
Sticking plaster on a suppurating wound?
Here’s an every day scene from my every day life. I drive up to a T junction where the traffic light is on red. A man holding up a tatty cardboard sign saying ‘Hungry and Homeless’ shuffles towards my car. I feel troubled by his hunger and his homelessness. A dialogue starts in my head. Should I wind down the window and give him a dollar? Aside from theIan Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-73545281543862577392013-03-14T11:17:00.000-05:002013-07-16T15:35:30.044-05:00Doing The Irony
The legs of Modern Man
(pic: Paul Wetherell)
The latest trends in fashion have a habit of passing me by. This has saved me a ton of money down the decades, but has also left me feeling awfully excluded. From what, I’m not quite sure.
Fortunately, at the age of 47 I’ve just found out where to keep up with What’s New In Threads. It’s a big fat wedge of processed tree inside my Sunday Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-43583159384513959902013-02-28T14:19:00.000-05:002013-07-16T15:35:47.549-05:00Hollywood Gears Up For Oscar Sequels<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-50706483693403701542013-02-08T13:56:00.000-05:002013-07-16T15:36:05.461-05:00Plaudits For The Pensioner Who Pulverized Pizza Hut
"Oops, did I do that? Oh my!" (Pic: CAPT258)
Old people never seem to get the credit they deserve. This week an 86-year-old woman crashed her car into a Pizza Hut in Arlington, Virginia, and the story was presented as though this was all a terrible accident. The wayward octogenarian had lost control of her car after she "apparently confused the gas and brake pedals". I don't believe a word of Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-91381482679828256822013-01-17T13:59:00.000-05:002013-11-24T22:47:48.007-05:00Morrissey at the Strathmore<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-2012773420594348022012-12-18T17:54:00.002-05:002013-07-16T15:36:42.899-05:00Top 30 Albums, 2012<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-71832077186393430872012-12-12T11:16:00.000-05:002013-12-16T21:44:24.210-05:002012: Six Countries, Six StadiumsThis year I managed to get out the house a bit more than usual, taking me to some new places, and also back to some more familiar ones. It's sad but true - the easiest way for me to remember where I was, and when, is to mentally archive the football games I went to.
Nakivubo Stadium, Kampala - the crowded section (pic: SAHIP)
1. Saturday May 5. Nakivubo Stadium, Kampala, Uganda. Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-19187268947192902302012-11-15T10:03:00.000-05:002012-12-18T18:13:51.879-05:00The Correct Methods of Jazz Education
At least half our house likes Ike
I gave up trying to influence my daughters’ musical tastes several years ago. When they were tiny, they had no choice other than to dance to the vinyl tracks I played them every night after bath-time. I compiled for my older daughter, who was four at the time, a cassette of her favoured singalongs. It included The Pogues and Ian Dury, and one day, without my Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-58922157489962743122012-11-05T09:08:00.002-05:002012-12-18T18:14:27.217-05:00Copulating Carrots Tell Us All We Need To Know About Obama's America
Pure evil, in carrot form (pic: SAHIP)
For anyone still doubting the depths of moral decadence that America has sunk to under the Obama administration over the past four years, I present the following hard, raw evidence that this country has descended to new levels of sexual depravity encouraged by the permissive liberal climate – same-genre vegetables openly copulating in my fridge (see aboveIan Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-62981921960876718402012-08-30T13:18:00.000-05:002012-12-18T18:14:39.777-05:00If The Republican Party Doesn’t Believe In Government, Why Does It Exist?<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-612129816644853092012-07-22T06:32:00.002-05:002012-12-12T11:17:54.913-05:00The Best Junk Shop In The World
Junk rocks (pic: SAHIP)
I spotted this second hand shop in Zürich on Thursday night, in a back street behind the train station while on my way to meet my old football team for reunion drinks (Wacker Selnau FC - Swiss Progressive League champions, 1998 and 1999, as I'm sure you remember). It was closed, and judging by its opening times of three afternoons a week, you'll be hard pressed toIan Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-27119507031734407802012-06-15T10:27:00.000-05:002012-11-15T10:14:43.534-05:00Feeling A Clot in the ERI hadn’t been to the Emergency
Room for six years, and only then because it was a weekend and I’d been kicked
in the head while heading a football towards the bottom corner of a goal in a grassy
recreational corner of Montgomery County. Although the insurance company
largely paid up, I saw later from the bill that the two stitches they put in
just above my left eye on a Sunday afternoon cost the Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-28334566395864317272012-05-25T02:10:00.001-05:002012-11-15T10:27:00.212-05:00Kampala to Gulu: A Journey In Signs
Through a screen of splattered insects (pic: SAHIP)
The narrative of the road between the Ugandan capital Kampala and the city of Gulu, four hours to the north, is best told in the words you can read on the way, be they on fly posters, sign posts, banners, or adverts painted on to shops and houses. Though of course that's only a partial reflection of a world merely glimpsed from a passing car:Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153364.post-56690960813817459362012-05-24T00:37:00.003-05:002012-11-15T10:27:26.153-05:00Travelling in East AfricaIt's not been a stay-at-home year so far. This month I've been in various East African countries coordinating a series of football tournaments aimed at helping former combatants (in particular ex-child soldiers) reintegrate with their communities through football. Here are some of my pictures from the early rounds of the Great Lakes Peace Cup in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Ian Plenderleithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08512357220650578961noreply@blogger.com1