Premiership Table Since 1 January 2011

Pos	Team (As 21 May)	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man Utd	19	12	3	4	17	39
2	Chelsea	18	11	4	3	19	37
3	Liverpool	19	11	3	5	18	36
4	Arsenal	18	8	7	3	11	31
5	Man City	17	9	3	5	9	30
6	Fulham	18	8	4	6	10	29
7	Everton	18	7	5	6	6	26
8	Tottenham	18	6	8	4	2	26
9	Aston Villa	18	6	7	5	2	25
10	West Brom	18	6	6	6	10	24
11	Newcastle	18	5	8	5	2	23
12	Stoke	18	6	4	8	-1	22
13	Wolves	18	6	4	8	-7	22
14	Birmingham	19	5	5	9	-17	20
15	Wigan	18	4	7	7	-8	19
16	Bolton	17	5	2	10	-8	17
17	Sunderland	17	5	2	10	-13	17
18	West Ham	17	4	4	9	-10	16
19	Blackburn	17	3	6	8	-9	15
20	Blackpool	20	3	5	12	-18	14

Hollywood Haikus II

Best for Film are running a 'Hollywood Haikus' competition. Prizes are a blu-ray player, and the site publishes the best entries with a link to your own site. But this just looks like a bit of fun anyway... so here goes!

Here's a Haiku review of the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

Ford and Connery
ride off into the distance.
Did we need a fourth?


http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/competition-hollywood-haikus/

This is an entry for the Best For Film Hollywood Haikus blogging competition. Enter now.


back to work...

Hollywood Haikus

Best for Film are running a 'Hollywood Haikus' competition. Prizes are a blu-ray player, and the site publishes the best entries with a link to your own site. But this just looks like a bit of fun anyway... so here goes!

Here's a Haiku review of the film Black Swan:

Well-acted film, but
did Natalie do all that?
I doubt it somehow.


http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/competition-hollywood-haikus/

This is an entry for the Best For Film Hollywood Haikus blogging competition. Enter now.

Bayern München vs Bayer Leverkusen preview: can Leverkusen still win the title?

Bayer Leverkusen have certainly done their best to keep this year’s title race open and exciting. Four weeks ago, Borussia Dortmund were looking dead-certs to clinch their first Bundesliga title since 2002. But the gap at the top has been closed from twelve points to five (with five to play), meaning that the final few weeks of the season will be edgier for Dortmund fans than they might have hoped, but looks set to provide some great excitement for the neutral. 

Jupp Heynckes' side have deservedly thrown themselves right into contention, taking 22 points out of a possible 24 in their last eight games, a remarkable run which leaves this superb BVB side suddenly looking nervously over their shoulders. But it seems probable that if Die Werkself still hold dreams of pipping Dortmund to the post, they will have to win at Bayern München on Sunday afternoon, which promises to be an exciting match for many reasons.

Hughton the man to take West Ham forward

A desperate plea from a Hammers fan

Let me start, as most misguided rants do, with a caveat. I am not an advocate of getting rid of a manager early into his tenure. With stakes so high these days, chairmen have become dangerously short-sighted when it comes to assessing the performance of the team boss.

Now we all know that the most successful clubs are the ones with long-term managers, and clubs have a growing tendency to sack the boss before he has the full opportunity to implement real change to his club. This is now more than just a worrying trend; it has pretty much become part-and-parcel of the modern game, both in England and abroad.

Yet in the case of my own West Ham, and their (how do I put this?) beleaguered boss Avram Grant, I found myself ignoring my own advice, my own moral high ground. I'll be honest, I wanted Grant out as early as the dismal 3-0 defeat against Liverpool way back in November.

Parenthood. Season 1: Review

A drama series about three generations within one family.  A serious version of Modern Family, you ask? Yes, but in more of an 'older brother' than 'unfortunate love-child' kind of way.

No club left behind?

East German football since reunification


It's been a difficult twenty years for the football clubs of the former East Germany.

Take FC Lokomotive Leipzig. A successful club in the years of the German Democratic Republic, they reached the Cup Winners Cup Final in 1986/87, losing out to opponents Ajax, with legendary striker Marco van Basten scoring the winner. In the 1993/4 season, Lokomotive, renamed VfB Leipzig, were competing in the Bundesliga. But by 2004 they were bankrupt, and the club was dissolved. Reformed again as Lokomotive Leipzig, they have since climbed back into Germany's fifth tier, but while the new club's name invokes the past heyday of the GDR time, and while the club has certainly retained a loyal fan base, they cannot escape the feeling that their team's glory days are not only over, but will never happen for them again.

Premier League team of the season

After the list of nominees for the PFA Player of the year was revealed, I found it upsetting to find the usual hype over quality among the list. Rather than use my mighty influence and give a personal call to PFA Chairman Clarke Carlisle, and convince him to change the list, I chose to pick my own Premier Leauge team of the season. I am sure Gareth Bale will be very upset to find out he's not there.

GK: Petr Cech (Chelsea) Made one high-profile mistake against Liverpool but has otherwise been probably the best keeper. He’s made some unbelievable saves throughout the campaign and makes it for me.

RB: Phil Neville (c) (Everton) This was the hardest position to pick for. But I can’t think of a better right-back than Neville this season, funny as that might sound, but he has had a fine late career. A solid and experienced defender, he has kept the big players quiet when man-for-man against the top clubs, as Everton have picked up points against the higher-reputation teams.