UN Envoy Leaves Sudan

The head of the UN mission in Sudan, Jan Pronk, has left the country after being expelled by the Sudanese government. They objected to comments he made in his blog that the Sudanese army had suffered serious losses in Darfur and was suffering from low morale.

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of outbreak of the Hungarian Uprising, which was brutally crushed by the Soviets. However, the commemerations have been marred by clashes between the police and protestors against Ferenc Gyurcsány's Socialist government.

Legendary Punk Club Closes After 33 Years

Legendary New York club CBGB is closing its doors for the last time tonight after 33 years. Owner Hilly Kristal fought to keep it open, but to no avail. He has now decided to up sticks and move to Las Vegas.

The club is synonymous with punk and New Wave, and bands such as The Ramones and Blondie launched their careers there.

I meant to visit CBGB while in New York last year, but I didn't get a chance. Guess I can't now.

Famous People Who Have Appeared In Star Trek Part III

"Not another stupid Trekkie post!" I hear you cry? Well, tough shit. This is my blog. However, you may be pleased to know that this may be the last post in this series, as I can't think of anyone else!

Anyway, James Newell Osterberg, Jr. otherwise known as Iggy Pop (the Godfather of Punk) appeared as a rather blunt Vorta (those treacherous administrators of the nasty Dominion) in the Deep Space Nine sixth series episode "Those Magnificent Ferengi". I Mr. Pop has been in a couple of films, and although I haven't seen them, based on this performance, he appears to be a competent actor. I usually cringe when I see that rock or pop star has decided to try their hand at acting. Do you remember Sting in David Lynch's Dune? He was dire. In saying that, Billie Piper has been decent in the new Doctor Who.

Although it's quite lighthearted, which was unusual for DS9, I like this episode. The normally cowardly Ferengi take on the Dominion's Jem'Hadar and get to be the heroes for once.

The Shortest Song In The World

Appearing on Napalm Death's first album Scum, 'You Suffer' is in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's shortest song. Clocking in at exactly 1.316 seconds, it consists of the almost incomprehensible lyrics, "You suffer, but why?".

I have Scum somewhere in my album collection, but I haven't listened to it in years. I remember not liking it, preferring their more metal-influenced releases, such as Harmony Corruption. Being a complete metalhead at the time, I bemoaned the lack of catchy riffs, the frequent blastbeats and the manic vocals. However, I remember being amused by song titles, such as 'Life?', 'Human Garbage' and my favourite 'C.S. (Conservative Shithead)'. I didn't particularly like their second album From Enslavement To Obliteration either, but when listening to it more recently, I thought it was quite good.

As I've got older, I've got more and more into punk and its related sub-genres - grindcore in this case. Strange, huh? Although I like a good tune like most people, I actually prefer music that goes against the grain and is abrasive and discordant.

I must dig Scum out and give it a good listen.

Gettin' Down Wif De Kidz

Labour MP Siôn Simon caused a bit of a furore across the water when he posted on YouTube his parody of Tory Leader David Cameron's pathetic attempts to appeal to Britain's yoof.

This Week I've Been Mostly Listening To...Metallica!

A blast from the past. I've been going back to my roots. Yeah!

I was a little bored with 21st century music, so I thought I'd listen to a bit of '8os thrash metal. ...And Justice For All gets slated by a lot of people, but I think it's arguably their best album. Now don't get me wrong, Master of Puppets made my jaw drop the first time I heard it, but due to my contrary nature, I prefer ...And Justice.... Whichever one may think is better, they certainly went downhill after this.

The songs are much more complex than on previous albums and the lyrics tackle social and political issues - this generally wasn't the done thing in metal back in 1988. The intro to the opener 'Blackened' is one of the best in my 'umble opinon. In fact, I listened to it over and over today. Every track's a winner, but the brilliant 'One' and 'Harvester of Sorrow' really stand out. And as for 'Dyers Eve'. What a way to end an album.

The album's production has often been criticised. It's certainly disappointing that the then new bass player Jason Newstand can't be heard over the guitars and drums. However, I quite the banging-on-a-biscuit-tin sound of the snare drum.

I have the album on tape somewhere - I'm showing my age. However, I needed it on CD to copy onto my MP3 player. So, Lars, if you're reading this, I'm killing music, you cunt.

Famous People Who Have Appeared In Star Trek Part II

Mick Fleetwood played the Antedean on the right in a TNG second series episode entitled "Manhunt". He and his aide were planning to blow up the Pacifica conference. The rotters! However, they were foiled by the crew of the good starship Enterprise-D - with the help of Lwaxana Troi and her powers of telepathy.

You're probably thinking, "fuck off, man, that's not Mick Fleetwood!" Well, like HRH Adullah, he is supposed to be a fan things Trek. This is the only episode he is known to have appeared in and he only appears in costume. Also, he doesn't say anything apart from making some sort of weird gargling sound, which presumably is supposed to be the Antedean language. However, his name appears in the credits in the scene after the theme tune, so it must be him.

If you don't know who Mick Fleetwood is, his surname is a clue, shithead.

Famous People Who Have Appeared In Star Trek

A new, and most likely shortlived, series on this blog.

King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan appeared in a non-speaking role - as he wasn't a member of the Screen Actors' Guild - in the Star Trek: Voyager second season episode "Investigations". Apparently he's a big fan.

Cyprus 5 - Republic of Ireland 2

In the words of a fat, bigotted, Mancunian working men's club 'comedian': "What a fucking disgrace!"

This must be the worst Irish performance I've ever seen. I think it even outranks the dreadful 3-2 defeat to Macedonia in Skopje in 1997. Despite a promising start - we went 1-0 up after 8 minutes - the team lacked direction and were disorganised in defence and more or less anonymous in midfield. Andy O'Brien (normally reliable) had an absolute shocker and was at fault for at least two of Cyprus's goals. We were lucky to get away with conceding only 5 goals. The Cypriots should have got 8 or 9 with the post or crossbar only denying them. We were really that bad.

I can only imagine what the newspapers will say and they're will be many in pubs across the land calling for Stan's head. It might be a little premature, but it does appear to have been an unwise decision on the part of the FAI to appoint an inexperienced manager. Obviously the thinking behind his appointment was that he would be popular with both players and fans and easy to influence. It doesn't help that Stan doesn't have Bobby Robson's counsel - due to ilness - to call upon at the moment. However, that wasn't that an inexperienced team that was put out and Stan's managerial shortcomings were cruely exposed. If we play like that on Wednesday night, we'll be torn apart by the Czech Republic.

Yo Soy Un Políglota

Mi mujer no habla español y yo hablo un poco. Hoy he llamadó un hotel en Benidorm porque ha querido llamar a su hermana y sobrina. Un hombre contestó el teléfono y no entendí que dijo. Sin embargo, no me preocupé. Dije, „¡Hola! Habitación numeró cuatro zeró tres, por favor". Pasó la llamada, pero no contestaron. Es oficial. Soy un políglota.

The New Dutch Master

Here's a clip of Robin Van Persie's fantastic second goal for the Arsenal against Charlton on Saturday. I just love volleys, me. Who doesn't? The commentary is in Dutch too. What more could you ask for?

My Lucky Number's BBC4

I watched an old Lene Lovich gig on BBC4 on Friday night (well, early Saturday morning). It was taken from a series badly titled Rock Goes To College and hosted by a guy who looked like Noel Edmonds's younger brother. This gig was at Liverpool University way back in 1979. I don't know much of her stuff apart from 'Lucky Number' (excellent song) and I wasn't too bothered about some of it, but that could have been down to poor sound. However, I liked her crazy getup - I can see where goths got their inspiration - and the faces she pulled. She even played the saxophone on a couple of songs. I also liked the creepy shaven headed (unusual for the late 1970s/early 1980s) bloke on guitar.

I don't know if BBC4 are planning to show more of Rock Goes To College, as it looks quite good. The programme showed the likes of AC/DC (with Bon Scott), the Boomtown Rats, and Siouxsie and the Banshees among others performing at universities and polytechnics (as they were back then) the length and breadth of Britain.

Ulysses 31

A friend and I were talking about the Iliad and like many in their late twenties and thirties, we remember that great 80s Franco-Japanese animé series Ulysses 31. It was was one of my favourite programmes when I was a kid - I was about 10 or 11 when it was shown by the Beeb - and I used to look forward to watching it every Thursday afternoon. I like to think that it got me interested in Greek mythology, although that could have been due to Tony Robinson's Odysseus: The Greatest Hero of Them All . Does anyone remember that? I remember being most disappointed when I discovered that there were no spaceships in Homer's version.

For those of you unfamiliar with the programme, it is a sci-fi reworking of the Odyssey. It tells that story of a 31st century descendant of the original Ulysses (the Roman name for Odysseus) who kills the Cyclops in order to rescue his son Telemachus. However, this angers the ancient Greek gods and Ulysses and the gang are banished to roam a hitherto unknown area of space called Olympus. Here they encounter all manner of strange people and creatures just like Ulysses' illustrious ancestor (whom he meets in one episode!) and try to find their way back to Earth. Ulysses is dealt a double blow when most of his crew are put in a kind of suspended animation by the vengeful Zeus, which leaves him with only Telemachus, a telepathic blue-skinned humanoid girl called Yumi, the annoying little robot Nono and the ship's computer Shirka for comapny.

I downloaded the first episode and the magic was still there, so I decided to buy the complete series on DVD. I won't be getting much study done for a couple of weeks! I quite like the cheesy synth rock theme tune except for that bit at the end about Nono, although it sounds good in French, German and Italian!