SciFiFootball

Today I make my triumphant return to The Leaky Wiki.
I cover a speech made at the UN yesterday (why a speech would be made at the UN on a Sunday I don’t know, but give me a bit of leeway here).
Unlike previous entries on The Leaky Wiki, there’s no particular backstory you need to know, just to know what ‘the developing world’ is, and that it seems to me like the people at the UN like to talk. A lot.

Anyway, the story is here:
Developing World Objects To The Label Developing World, Finds it Patronising

And, in a quite exciting piece of news (well it excited me at least, and therefore technically counts as exciting, in a linguistic sense) I’m writing for Den of Geek.
My first piece, a defence of the recent reinterpretations of Sherlock Holmes, has gone up this morning.

Recaps

Monday Recap 23/1

January 23, 2012March 4, 2012 David Stringer

I’ve promised to start recapping the week on Monday morning, and I am sort of true to my word, when I finally get around to it.
I’ve reviewed The Afrika Reich and The Valley of Fear here on the blog, and linked to my previous Lower League Week over at Born Offside.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed I’ve not linked to any articles posted over at The Leaky Wiki for a while.
There’s a reason for this, and it’s not that I’ve been lazy and not thought of anything to write, oh no.
The fact is, I have been suspended for a serious breach of journalistic ethics – I took more than my share of biscuits from the communal tin.
I have apologised deeply to my colleagues and employer, and, having spent my month of suspension on full pay ~~getting blind drunk~~ reflecting on my errors. I will soon be returning to action.

While I’ve been suspended (on full pay! Can you believe that?) my colleague Chris Switzer broke the story that a new study (a very controversial new study) which hints that the creation of babies may be linked to sex.
Matt Upchuck covered the launch of The UK Space Agency’s probe to Mars, or possibly France.
And there was news of a revolutionary new political debating technique to be introduced in forthcoming American debates. The next Republican debate will be settled not with words – which have failed the political process for so long – but with hammers.

I’d also like to draw your attention towards an interview on Born Offside with Mark McAllister, the ‘video coach’ for Gillingham FC. Personally, I found it an interesting look at a part of professional football most fans wouldn’t think about. Okay, technically it went up longer than a week ago, but for a football fan, it’s definitely worth reading.

Also at Born Offside, the African Cup of Nations has just begun over the weekend, and my colleagues at Born Offside have previewed every team, and covered the matches so far.

That’s pretty much all I’ve written on the internet this past week, and what I consider the best of what my colleagues have wrote. Watch this space, as there should be a bit more later today…

Review

Book 03: Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear

January 20, 2012July 6, 2014 David Stringer

I’ve set out to read a minimum of 52 books this year, and write a brief review of each. I’ve reached a point that I didn’t think I’d reach this early – I’m justifying my selection by saying that it is technically a book.

Yep, it’s the novelisation of Transformers 2

Although I’m reading from The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear was originally published as a standalone novel. So, I’m going to count it as such, even if it is just over a hundred pages long.

Continue reading “Book 03: Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear” →

FootballOpinion

The Third Week Since Last Friday

January 19, 2012April 6, 2013 David Stringer

My new column is now up on Born Offside.
Once again I offer a brief summary of the events in the lower leagues of English football, the big events this week and in recent weeks.

Yep, still what the cool kids are talking about

Anyone foolish enough to have wasted their time reading the first two columns (and it’s foolish to wsate time reading anything I write) will notice I’ve given each column a name.
A name should be something that in some way summarises or explains what’s within.
Being an observant sort, I noticed, after completing the column, that a majority of the subjects are, in one way or another, are moving up.
Some are players moving to bigger clubs, one is a club moving up the leagues, and so on.

It’s called creating a theme, and I am truly a master at it.

Click here to read my latest column

Review

Book 02: The Afrika Reich

January 15, 2012January 18, 2013 David Stringer

I’ve just finished reading Afrika Reich, which is a very tough book to read at times. The book is set in a parallel universe where Nazi Germany’s victory at Dunkirk forced a ceasefire with Britain. They then defeated Soviet Russia, while pacifist America stayed out of the war. At the Casablanca Conference in 1943, Germany and Britain then carved up Africa between them.
Burton Cole, a retired former soldier and the protagonist, is hired to kill Walter Hochburg, the Governor of German Kongo.

Dunkirk By ~Daniel~Bos~ taken from Flickr — This is all feeling quite dark and serious. Here, have some pictures of lego men evacuating Dunkirk

Continue reading “Book 02: The Afrika Reich” →

FootballOpinion

Two Weeks in a Day

January 13, 2012April 6, 2013 David Stringer

Being an indisciplined and irregular writer has many interesting consequences, for the writer, employer, and reader. For instance, there’s the curiosity as to whether a planned feature will appear, wonder over how long a character will remain on a cliffhanger, and the legal mystery of what happens to expenses if that lazy so and so doesn’t finish off the work for once, grrr.

Local Newspaper Editor by eivindf www.flickr.com/photos/eivindf/462781092/sizes/m/in/photostream/ — You can just tell he’s disappointed with me

One of the positive consequences for the reader is that, at times, several features appear all at once.
Yesterday (okay, technically this morning you damn pedants) I mentioned I’ve started writing for Born Offside.

Well, you lucky lucky people, the second edition is now online.

Bored - by wajakemek rashdanothman Taken from Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/rashdan/632754258/lightbox/ — Try not to get too excited.

The hope is that, when the feature gets settled in, it’ll start appearing early in the week, so you may even be able to read a third edition within a few days.

You can read the second edition, Glory of the Cup, here.

FootballOpinion

Last Saturday’s Week

January 13, 2012April 6, 2013 David Stringer

Okay, catching up a little with the blog. Firstly, I’m planning to start writing regular features pretty soon, promise.

I’ve now started writing for bornoffside.net – an up and coming English football website that I think will get a fair bit bigger over the course of the year.
You should start reading now, so you know all about Born Offside before your friends, bug them about how cool it is when they’ve not heard about it, and, eventually, they’ll grudgingly accept that you did know about Born Offside before them, so you must be really cool.

This is what cool looks like

My feature on Born Offside will be a weekly column, recapping the biggest events in the lower leagues. So, if you want to know about the goings on at Bristol Rovers and Swindon Town (and let’s face it, why wouldn’t you?) you’ll be able to read my weekly column.

The first edition of The Lower League Week went up on August seventh

Review

Book 01: Moneyball

January 6, 2012January 18, 2013 David Stringer

The first book I read this year was Moneyball by Michael Lewis. A financial journalist, the main body of his journalism has covered Wall Street.
In 2002 Lewis set out to look at how a new, more analytical approach to baseball management was altering the way the game was ran, only to discover that, by and large, it wasn’t. The one exception to this rule was the Oakland Athletics, under the charge of General Manager Billy Beane.

Continue reading “Book 01: Moneyball” →

FootballOpinion

Home Fortune Favours the Bold

January 6, 2012April 6, 2013 David Stringer

I’m a supporter of Hartlepool United Football Club, who, going by the wisdom of the fans, are ‘by far the greatest team the world has ever seen’. You may think that would be the Dutch ’70 team, or maybe the current Barcelona team, but no, apparently it’s a small team in the third tier of English football.
It’s a funny old game.

800px-Hartlepool_United_Cyril_Knowles_Stand — Much better than the Camp Nou

Hartlepool are a small team, all things considered.
The season started optimistically, and there’s been some good form away from home, competing well as one of the best teams, results wise. But, the home form has been awful, with several successive home defeats. On 6 December, the decision was made to remove the popular Mick Wadsworth, as manager.

Writing at Vital Hartlepool yesterday, I took a look at the causes of the bad form.

Egotism, Review

52 Weeks, 52 Books

January 3, 2012January 18, 2013 David Stringer

Something I intend to do more of during the next year, is read more books. That feels like it’s an obvious thing for an aspiring writer to do, but I have a bad habit of getting distracted by television, internet and news sites.
It’s easy to think of news articles and TV programmes produced the previous month as being more relevant to my life than a 19th century book about 17th century French soldiers.
But I find books more absorbing and, as a result, a superior form of escapism. Unfortunately, they also demand more, compared to vegging out in front of the telly or laptop, which are essentially passive forms of entertainment.