I've been corresponding with my bro-in-law via email recently and as usual, as we both share a common interest in classic scooters the topic was errr...classic scooters. I've always known that I've wanted a classic scooter for ages but it was this particular bro-in-law (I have five, the last time I checked) who inspired me to get one for myself. Anyway, our recent conversation revolved around creating a logo for the blog which could double as an airbrush/vinyl graphic for my Green Vespa (maybe on the legshield below the Vespa badge), whenever I decide to get it re-sprayed.
Having zero graphics skills (even my drawing of stickmen can be considered ugly), I fired on examples of what I like the logo to look like along with pages upon pages of commentary of how he could add or amend it to my tastes. After a few drafts we came up with a logo that we both agreed was cool. So, without any further ado, here it is:
SkuterHijau by Awoos
Some of you might have noticed it already as I've been playing around with the positioning of it on the blog page over the past day or so. I eventually settled on placing it on the right-hand corner of the main page but only because I can't get it into what I feel is the best home for it. I prefer if it was incorporated in the blog's title but because of my very limited IT skills, I haven't been able to do this.
Anybody out there care to give me a hand with this...?
Anyway, as for the logo itself, I hope it isn't taken too seriously. It's all tongue-in-cheek really. An ironic nod to the hard biker culture as the least scariest thing you'd see on the roads is a Vespa rider. Oh, and that black, bird-like creature that's in the background is meant to be a Liver bird. My way of showing my allegiance to Liverpool FC but with a slighly different interpretation of the standard Liver bird pose. Hope it's OK that way.
So, what do you out there think about it?
Through some dogged defending (which included man-handling Andy Carroll) and a good dollop of luck, Roy Hodgson's West Brom were successful in defeating Liverpool at the Hawthorns. Although clearly disappointed, I wasn't entirely surprised as it's been mentioned before and proved time and time again since, this - in a strange roundabout kind of way, just proves how unsuited the former manager is to Liverpool. Hope it goes well for him there...
Fortunately, to distract me from the weekend's defeat, I had a ready-made solution at hand. It came in the form of a rented movie - The Fighter
. Catching the trailer on TV (or probably online) towards the end of last year, I was keen to catch the movie at the cinema on its release here in Ireland but for some reason, completely missed out on it then. Thinking that it was a type of Rocky
with better acting, I was surprised to find out from female colleagues at work that although initially forced to watch the movie with their respective other halves, they too ended up enjoying the movie.
In short, the movie could be seen as a typical rags-to-riches type of movie but its sub-plots and the quality of the acting just brings it to another level altogether. My wife kept repeating Is that Batman
? on seeing Christian Bale's portrayal of Dicky Eklund. Even Amy Adams, who was last seen by the two of us as the goody-two-shoes Giselle in Enchanted
was a completely unrecognisable person in her role as "Irish" Micky Ward's supportive girlfriend.
Hopefully, I won't be needing more than the amount of good movies available before the football season comes to an end.
It was good to know that Lucas was finally tied-up on a long-term contract. I was getting a bit nervous that current management (newly appointed Director of Football Comolli, Dalglish et al) didn’t actually like Lucas and favoured someone more local (or French). And hey, I’m not getting suspicious for no particular reason either. It’s a fact of life in club football. When there’s a change of management, there’s always a tendency to bring in players management believe fit their own philosophy and demands. After all, it’s much easier to work in a more familiar environment so, why not? The more high profile and senior players are normally exempt from this sea change in personnel but the ones that polarise popular opinion like Lucas (and unfortunately Aquilani as well as Insua) are always going to be prone to a bit of cutting and pruning.
Fortunately, in this case, quality prevailed and any doubt that favouritism existed in the club’s hierarchy was thrown out the window. The message was clear: if a player is good enough to be at the club, he will be at the club. The name on the passport doesn’t matter (although to be fair, this must be at the backs of every DoF’s and manager’s minds when they do the math to meet Premier League requirements on home-grown players).
So, that closes that issue and until the transfer window re-opens, I’d rather keep silly season discussions to the silly season or thereabouts.
In the meantime, with the lack of club-level football due to the international break, a group of us have been keeping ourselves entertained by putting our feet where our mouths and fingertips constantly are. Yes, after almost five years of not playing football, I’ve started to actually play the beautiful game again. OK, it's not proper full pitch, 11 v. 11 football but, an astro turf 7-a-side game is as good a start as any, isn't it? Plus, between my current circle of friends, we find it hard enough to drag 22 of us out to play nevermind lasting 90 minutes on a full-size pitch (with some lasting much, much less than others).
Hopefully, playing regularly will up our fitness levels to a stage where I wouldn't need to worry about where I put my Ventolin inhaler...
Have a good weekend everybody.
Lucas pic by José Porras
