Feeling Down!

Hello people! Please don't refrain to indulge yourself upon this post.

So, Saturday night. October 20th. HMV Institute, Birmingham. Only one thing was happening that night, and that was a night of great music! Doors opened at 6, but we arrived at 7 as we banking on the venue posting a running order and set times on facebook which they never did, so I think we missed Warbeast (the first band). But I wasn't too bothered and the night went on.

By the time Orange Goblin came on (about half seven) the place was pretty much full, and me and Declan found ourselves standing about five yards from the bar. This was silly because everyone going to/from the bar walked past us so we were constantly moving a step forwards and backwards. Orange Goblin were alright, I'd never listened to them before and was impressed with their opener but the entirety of the set list was rather repetitive.

After what felt like an hour waiting for Down to take the stage, me and Dec had advanced into a much better position to witness what we'd come for. Down took the stage to the delight of the audience and from their opener, you could tell it was a special night. Highlights were Lifer, Stone The Crow and Bury Me In Smoke. Everything sounded really good and was expectantly loud, but whenever Phil (Anselmo, frontman) was talking to the audience, no one around us had a clue what he was saying! We just heard muffles.

All in all it was a really good night, I can't remember the last gig I went to before Saturday but I've been reminded with a heavy metal full on right fist to the chin that I need to get out to more gigs, so I intend to do so! (The photograph below is off Down on Saturday, taken by someone on the balcony)

Football wise, all day Saturday I stayed in watching Tottenham vs Chelsea in a manic and very entertaining match, then Man United struggle at first to a nice 4-2 home win over Stoke. I also watched them produce a mad fightback last night against Braga, going 2-0 down at home and winning 3-2. Defensively, they're not strong enough and they need to stop going behind and making matches more difficult than they need to be! Bangor were away at Port Talbot and the journey was just a little too far so I decided against it, they got a 1-1 draw. Shrewsbury are in very bad form at the moment and need some points, they lost on Saturday and again last night. Pick it up boys!

Thanks for reading!
-Andy.

Down with the roof!

Hello people! Welcome to the post..

In the past week, I've enjoyed my week off college by being rather lazy and watching a few Bond films courtesy of the Sky Movies 007 channel which really is quite good! I've seen a few Pierce Brosnan films which I don't recall seeing previously and really do think I prefer the Daniel Craig Bond films, all of this Bond-ness adds to my excitement of seeing Skyfall later this month!!

So on Friday night England cruised to a much predicted 5-0 win over San Marino, but tonight against Poland I think they will be pleased with the 1-1 draw, but the performance was well below par. Sunday was quite interesting, seeing Shrewsbury live on TV in a rewarding 1-0 win  over Walsall, which moved them about five places up the table! A lot of relief there indeed.

The less said about Bangor on Saturday the better I think, the consolation from our home defeat was that TNS and Prestatyn also slipped up so things are pretty much how they were. Going back to college hasn't been too bad, I felt a little bored at the end of last week and at least now I've got stuff to work for, mainly being half term in a week and a half (or 6 college days) which I'm very much looking forward to.

So, this weekend brings the Down gig that me and Declan have been waiting for forever!! Saturday night at the HMV Institute in Birmingham will be where we are, I'm very much looking forward to hearing a rendition of 'Stone the Crow' that should blow the roof off! Also, premier league football is back - there's almost too much of it these days! I'll be sure to give many details of the gig in the next post!

Thanks for reading!
-Andy.

Review week!

Hello and welcome to this on time weekly post!

I am in the middle of enjoying a week off, courtesy of the very generous Walford and North Shropshire college for 'review week'. So far I have done homework, watched films and TV, played / watched football and loads of FIFA! I'm now just over a month into college life and really enjoying it so far, all the lessons are interesting, taught well and the environment is great. My favourite lessons are Media and Film Studies, that's probably because we watch Iron Giant and Terminator in them!

On Monday night, me and my team the Spaghetti Hoops played our first competitive Monday Night League game! We're started in the bottom division and faced FC Farcelona - a bunch of lads same age as us that we mostly knew from The Marches. The game was a lot tougher than we anticipated therefore a poor start led to us going 1-0 down, but we grew into the match and roared back to gain a 3-2 victory. A good start to our season - also I've learnt we need to keep our heads on the ground a bit more!!

Last weekend was pretty good football wise, Friday night I travelled up to Bangor to watch them take on Bala Town (and got in for free due to a 'students in for free' promotion!), it was one of the best Bangor performances I've seen and the reward was a thrilling 5-0 victory! Saturday was just a day in town which is quite rare for me now, followed by my first ever Saturday night curry - picked over having the usual pizza and chips. A sign of adulthood I believe! Then I went up the road to our neighbours for a night of babysitting which gained me a tidy tenner, but the child was apparently a bit ill and woke up twice so the night was cut short and I was home in time for Match of The Day!

The Shrews lost again which isn't too good, but hopefully they can pick it up when they play on Sunday live on Sky! The United match was Sunday at Newcastle, they started fantastically and won the game 3-0 with Tom Cleverley scoring a fantastic goal that people can't decide whether he meant to shoot or cross! Last night me and Dad went off to Bala to watch Bangor in the much postponed League Cup game and I certainly wish we hadn't. A terrible and half hearted performance earned a mix and match Bangor side with a 6-1 defeat. Totally embarrassing, but the Friday result is the important one!

This morning I watched Bourne Ultimatum, and after thinking Supremacy was good, my standards have been  redefined. Ultimatum is a fantastic action packed adrenaline fuelled monster of a film - a definite must watch!! Also I have finally updated my profile picture for this blog, it's about time too haha! On a final note, the next blog won't be as football dominated as it's the International break now, but I'll be watching England, Bangor and Shrewsbury this weekend!

Thanks for reading!
-Andy.

Football overload!

Hello all and welcome to this day late post! Apologies for the delay, now then..

So the weekend was okay, the Shrewsbury game was really entertaining but they couldn't finish any chance and lost 1-0, not good really as home games are where you should be picking up the full points! On the drive back, our moods sank even more as the radio commentary for the Man United game told us that Tottenham had scored after about two minutes and never looked back as United - like Shrewsbury - stumbled to a home defeat. The only good result of the three was that Bangor earned a pleasing 1-0 victory away at Carmaerthen; a goal from top scorer Chris Simm (now on 7) and a clean sheet!

Also, I made a mistake last time by saying that Bangor, Man United and Shrewsbury were all playing on the same day as the Shrewsbury game is on the 9th October. We made the decision to go watch Bangor, but yet again the match was called off and postponed another week! Luckily, the United game was a fall back s we watched them struggle at first to a nice 2-1 win and now they're on 6 points from two games. The problem is that now Bangor and Shrewsbury both play on the 9th, but I believe for a third game, the Bangor came could get postponed!

On Monday night, me and nine friends went to the Venue at Park Hall to play our first 6 a side match! The league starts this upcoming Monday and the match we played was one to see which league we'd be put into, our team - Spaghetti Hoops - beat FC Farcelona 4-3 and we were all really pleased, apart from me having to take one for the team! I've found out that we'll be starting in the bottom league which makes our result less impressive but gives me confidence that we can win plenty!

One thing that's kept me very busy in the past week is the new Fifa! I'm sure everyone is aware, but it was released and came on Friday morning and I'm glued to it! So many improvements have been made from the last one and it's as entertaining as ever.

Last night, I watched a team who are soon becoming one of my favourites, certainly my favourite German team: Borussia Dortmund, as they played Man City at the Etihad. It was a really good game to watch, Dortmund played some great football and if it wasn't for Joe Hart with a world class display, it could have been 3/4 goals up for Borussia. City though got lucky and a late equaliser, what a shame! Respect to the travelling fans, they went in their masses, were apparently singing Shinji Kagawa songs with Japanese tourists and created an atmosphere than Man City can only ever dream of!

Thanks for reading!
-Andy.