Was just going to post this myself...have eaten at Pho24 in Vietnam (decidedly average) and Quanjude in Beijing (very good but not the best Beijing duck). Will definitely look some of these places up when I head over to New York in the spring though!

I'm already a doctor, using my six years of training on an orthogeriatric ward at the Leeds General Infirmary. I'll be sure to note down the opinions of a xenophobic person on a football messageboard I've never met, it's of great value to me. As is you digging out four posts from the last 10 months or so. If you look back at my posts I was one of the most anti-Ince people on here right from the off, however I find you constantly finding a way to shoehorn him into every topic you can find a little tiresome, hence the "zzzzz...." post earlier. Hope that's enough of an explanation...

zzzzzzzzz.............

For me though it wasn't him asking for a raise, it was the fact he put this request over any footballing ambition. It's foolish to compare football with any other job, for a start most of us have jobs where we still have to think about budgeting, where our money is enough to cover the means we live plus a bit more but not much more (obviously those "means" differ between people and their respective wealth though). Footballers on the other hand earn more money than they'll ever need. Also the career ambition in football is far more, if Bill Gates took over a non league side and started offering a million a week, none of the best players would take him seriously. Look at Man City and Kaka. The fact he left us who were challenging for Europe, and turned down Liverpool, to play for a side who were deep in a relegation battle simply for the money on offer is a move that marks him out from even many other footballers, and that's saying something.

Really liking the Passion Pit record, very promising new band. : Video for their single The Reeling which is one of my favourites this year.

It's a hell of a lot better quality in South America than it is across here, for obvious reasons I guess. Haven't heard much about the purity lately but a couple of years back I was told the maximum purity you could get here was just under 40%.

None of them are even in the same league as Barton, also Diouf and Bellamy have registered charities in their own name, Savage has been involved a fair bit with charitable work too. And there's no way Neill can be put into the same bracket as Barton FFS. I had no objection to EHD joining but not Barton. He's been rubbish for too long and his repeated and frequent disgraceful displays of behaviour are much too much.

Off to see M83/Ulrich Schnauss at the Deaf Institute in Manchester tomorrow. Should be good...

Agreed on both those counts. Really like the new Camera Obscura record too, one of my favourites this year.

Really excited about seeing Animal Collective in a couple of weeks' time...

If I'm not mistaken countries have signed international treaties on drugs which they have to adhere to aswell. It's the reason why marijuana isn't technically legal in Holland.

New Doves song is fantastic.

Well...you hopefully won't be choking up your food but you won't be overwhelmed by it either.

I think we went there a few years ago, its alright.

See the Empire review gives it 5 stars but adds: Titanic wasn't that bad, but thats certainly not a selling point and its definitely a film which has been reappraised critically over time since its release. I haven't seen Button yet, I probably will but have no great desire to.

Nah, most of the general public would still vote to ban it IMO. Most people don't see alcohol as a drug...

That will be a good 'un. I'm going down to Brixton Academy to see him.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7876425.stm Very interesting article, especially considering who it's coming from. I completely agree with him too, it's utterly ludicrous that E is a class A drug.

Yeah it's very good. Still doesn't quite hit the heights of Quarry but maybe fewer duff tracks on there too, it's quite consistent right the way through. Anyone seeing him later this year?

My favourite three are probably Animal Collective, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Morrissey. Anyone else got Glastonbury tickets?

New Animal Collective album is truly superb. Always found them a bit overrated in the past though they've had their moments, but this is really, really good.

Any chance of theno, blue phil and AESF going on an outing to see it?

It was alright, but didn't tell the story particularly well. Didn't really make the pulse race or tug at the heartstrings nearly enough for a film with this particular subject matter. Jamie Bell put in a great performance though, he's always come across as a really down to earth chap too, would be good to see him go far.

Just seen it, thought it was fairly average myself. Maybe slightly better than average but thats about it.

Loving this band at the minute called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They're from NYC like most bands seem to be these days, and have a great early My Bloody Valentine/Jesus and Mary Chain/Pastels type sound to them. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KLVrTruj_Aw For a taster... I assume the rules for linking to rapidshare/mediafire for zip files of albums for download are much the same as for streaming links? Oh well, I'm sure everyone knows how to find music, but I definitely recommend tracking down their album.