Iain McNay 12/06

Books
Sharon Osbourne 'Extreme' This is actually quite an interesting book. Plenty of good Ozzie stories; one has to admire her staying power in terms of their relationship.
Daniel Coyle ‘ Lance Armstrong - Tour De Force’ Have enjoyed reading both of Lance's books. This is a very well written, pretty objective account of Lance's live which also includes a lot of details of the other major cycle riders. It's quite a fascinating world they all live in.
Ian Ridley 'Floodlit Dreams: How To Save A Football Club' The tale of Ian Ridley, football fan come football Chairman at Weymouth FC. You put time and money in and the fans love you and then some of them hate you. Really well written, lots of interesting details, a warning to all football fans...
Midge Ure 'If I was' Autobiography of former Slik, Rich Kids and Ultravox singer. Some good stories.
Jamie Andrew 'Life And Limb' Really inspiring book. He lost both arms and legs on a mountain and recovered to go mountain climbing again. Real story of triumph of the human spirit. Highly recommended.
Ervin Laszlo 'The Chaos Point.' I think we all realise that we are heading there on many fronts. Environmental, political, financial.... Laszlo puts it all together and then offers some suggestions on how we can avoid disaster. The thing is though; are we going to take his advice?
Rob Young 'Rough Trade' The story of the Rough Trade record label over its various incarnations since it way founded in 1978. Visually it is great with lots of images of the sleeves and memorabilia over the years. The text you might say in the official version of the story relying heavily on Geoff Travis for his memories. There is a whole other story which may be written one day with the whole picture, that would be quite a read.
'The Google Story' The story of the Google search engine. Although the two founders did not co-operate directly with the book, it seems that it has their blessing. The book is very pro-Google and I was left with the feeling that there is a lot unsaid for fear of legal action. It is a remarkable story though and the book is definitely worth reading.

CDs
Luna 'Best Of Luna' This double album is one disc Luna compositions and one disc covers. They have some great songs but the covers albums doesn't really work for me...
Wishbone Ash 'Argus' This was first released 35 years ago and has been consistently been a favourite of mine throughout that time. I dig it out every now and again. Great Stuff!
Nick Garrie-Hamilton 'The Lost Songs Of Nick Garrie-Hamilton' I must admit that I had never heard of him before his releases on Rev-ola. Some brilliant songs and a great voice,

Films
The Devil and Daniel Johnston Very interesting and moving documentary about outsider artist Daniel Johnston. Well worth watching.
Wal-Mart - The High Cost OF Low Price This had had great reviews. I found it a little predictable at times though; it is well put together but not a lot there that was any kind of big surprise
The Devil Wears Prada Really enjoyed this. Meryl Streep is great as the big nasty fashion magazine boss. Very funny at times.
The Prestige Staring Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine and David Bowie it tells the tale of obsession and jealousy between two turn-of-the-century magicians. David Bowie plays a mysterious Tesla. This is a really good film; don't miss it.

Gigs
Charity Hare - BBC Club London Charity was apparently found busking at Notting Hill Gate tube station; looks very good and writes a good song as well. She could well be destined for great things..
Ian Page and the Affair - Kingsmeadow Live, Kingston, Surrey Ian Page was of course the singer with mod band Secret Affair. All these years later he is still doing 'Time For Action' and 'My World' and mighty good they sound as well.

Sport
Aldershot 1 AFC Wimbledon 2 FA Trophy First Round The Dons recovered from a somewhat uninspiring performance in the first half to become brilliant in the second. Bearing in mind this was part timers versus full timers they really did well. This will hopefully help to put their ruin of inconsistent and erratic form behind them.