Odds on both Spurs and Aberdeen not going down?

Oooh! A 'Clear Daylight' offside goal for #PacificFC. It'll take some getting used to, this rule, but it feels reasonable to tip the scales a little more in favour of the forward.

Third Time's the... Something Aberdeen's survival tactic revealed!

Weekend #Bairns is focused on the rapidly-approaching end of the 75/76 season. And some Division 2 games were played! Also, a mumbled apology will have to do.

It's Easter weekend (well, it was), so news desks are sleeping but there's always Oor Wullie wearing a tie.

As You Were Just when you thought it was all becoming clear...

This week's #Bairns features less clarity on the league front, but we do at least know the identity of several cup finalists. Plus, John Stonehouse is going mad, Patty Hearst is going to jail (probably), and Walter Smith doesn't exactly cover himself in glory.

open.substack.com/pub/bairnsot...

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's Criterion Closet Picks April 18, 2025 The longtime creative partners share their love for Albert Brooks, praise Jackie Chan as “the funniest living human being,” and talk about referencing THE CRANES ARE FLYING for their ne...

The challenge this week was to pick one of these. I toyed with M. Hulot, but am more than satisfied with my choice.

letterboxd.com/closetpicks/...

Infernal Affairs (2002) Chan Wing Yan, a young police officer, has been sent undercover as a mole in the local mafia. Lau Kin Ming, a young mafia member, infiltrates the police force. Years later, their older counterparts, C...

This week's #CriterionChallenge was the frankly superior Infernal Affairs. I'd only seen Scorsese's 'The Departed', but this is the definition of 'original and best'. Taut, gripping, and many other adjectives to recommend that if you haven't seen it, you really should
letterboxd.com/film/inferna...

to tackle the greatest play in the English language and pull it off. Not because we were geniuses, because we had no fear, and Shakespeare is so bloody marvellous to perform that it never occurred to us that it wouldn't work. Fun fact - the cast featured not only me but Thomas Brodie-Sangster's dad

But the acting is superb, particularly Lalla Ward as Ophelia and of course Derek Jacobi as Hamlet. Every time I see a Hamlet, it affects me differently (the one at the end of the TV version of Station Eleven had me in tears), this one reminded me vividly of a bunch of kids having the nerve... 4/5

then as I loved it this time. My favourite play, performed with such joy and gusto (David Ross' Laertes a little too overwrought, I think, but otherwise excellent) I can only fault the sound design now; the occasional music was intrusive, not illustrative, and it reverberated horribly in places 3/5

I didn't know who Patrick Stewart was at that time, but I rejoiced to hear him pronounce 'impious' the way I had insisted on it, not as the opposite of 'pious', but in the way which fit the rhythm. I must have enjoyed the bare stage and steep rake which echoed our tiny, bare stage, and loved it 2/5

Hamlet (1980) Hamlet comes home from university to find his uncle married to his mother, and his father's ghost haunting the battlements and scaring the watch. Then his father's ghost directs him to seek revenge.

#BBCTelevisionShakespeare reached #Hamlet, all four hours of it, with not a word trimmed, as far as I could see. I saw it on first broadcast, less than two months after playing Claudius myself in an ambitious teenaged production which shaped my life in many ways 1/5

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A spot of island hopping this morning while the renovation crew have the power off at home. First time on #Galiano looking over Wallace Island to #SSI Shame I don’t have last weeks weather to go with it.

Things I discovered while looking all that up to make sure I wasn't also in a fever dream:

Pat Boone is still with us!

The TV theme tune was a cover of Boone's version, not his own version, which is weird.

Both Ronnie James Dio and Richie Blackmore played on the album, called No More Mr. Nice Guy

The Bluebells - Young At Heart (Official HD Video) YouTube video by London Records

Obligatory: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7n5...

Not only does it exist, but was used as the theme tune for the Osbournes TV show. @dukenfield.bsky.social will have more detail, but Boone did an entire album, if not more, covering metal songs

It's early days, so refs will be strict, but I can see some of the fussy timekeeping not lasting long. Didn't see anything which looked like a 'clear daylight' offside decision, but I was doing a crossword at the same time, so that might have happened. Overall objective seems to be speed, not sure

Coach can challenge and ask for a red card, but refs can decide to show a yellow. Smart move therefore is to challenge any bad tackle, get your opponent booked if they're already on a yellow. I suspect this one may not make it into wider use. One sub was made to wait and #PacificFC scored 2/3

First time watching a #CPL game #PACSUP with the new rules. Players must leave the field within 10 sec or the sub can't come on for at least one minute; throwins and goal kicks have a countdown and coaches get two VAR-style challenges, which has immediately been abused. 1/3

Wait, What Just Happened? Is it all over?

Saturday's #Bairns covers a crucial weekend of football, some doubt about the state of the Hampden pitch, and prominent use of the word 'KNICKERS'

Also, an excuse for me to publish a photo of me and my boyhood hero.

Having loved the soundtrack for over 30 years, I'm struck by two things: 'Miranda' is much thinner on screen than the recorded track, and the Masque is astonishing visually as well as aurally, with Ute Lemper, Marie Angel and Deborah Conway in full flow the contrast is stunning.

I had in my @letterboxd.social list that I had watched Prospero's Books before, but having watched it again, I'm not sure I watched it all. Gielgud is mesmerising, the art direction is sumptuous, and the direction is entirely over the top. But it's Shakespeare's maddest play, so I think that worked

A little experiment tonight; first, the next instalment in the #BBCTelevisionShakespeare was #TheTempest, decent but a little plodding (although I did like the set and the way the action moved around it), followed for purposes of comparison by #PeterGreenaway 's #Prospero'sBooks

Meet the New Boss... Jim Callaghan is the new St. Johnstone manager. Or something.

A man called Jim got a new job 50 years ago this week. So did a man called Jim. A pointless friendly, Chinese spelling reform, and some schoolboys get sent home. Also, Aberdeen send a juggernaut down an alley for some reason.

The Criterion Challenge 2026 Welcome to the sixth annual Criterion Challenge where we celebrate The Criterion Collection! Hundreds of you have participated in these challenges year after year, so thanks to all of you for making t...

As always, whoever sees this is encouraged to join in the challenge; as long as there is time left in the year for you to watch 52 films, there's time to get started 3/3:

letterboxd.com/benvsthemovi...

The 'Director Approved' list is impossible to choose from - in the end, I went with something which was readily available, but I'm very glad I chose this; it seems it ought to be something you know well, but it felt completely fresh 2/3:

www.criterion.com/shop/collect...

Walkabout (1971) Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and...

#CriterionChallenge 15 this week was to choose from the curated 'Director Approved' list. After much head-scratching, I went for Nic Roeg's luminous #Walkabout, which memory insists I saw while still at school, but which felt new and thrilling on this watch 1/3

letterboxd.com/film/walkabo...

Fifty years on from an unthinkably young Graham Taylor winning the Fourth Division with Lincoln, who scored 111 goals in the process, much to the delight of my Technical Drawing teacher, who was from Lincoln, and told us their manager was going to do great things...

Challenge accepted! Although the protracted SPFL playoff system will likely play a part

The Final Countdown Well, nearly.

Saturday's #Bairns is biting its nails as the end of the season approaches - it may be close at the top, but all attention is on 50% of the league in danger of relegation.
Plus, a very young #NicholasWapshott sees into the future and scares us all

No Time For Fooling Around It may be April 1st, but no-one's laughing

Midweek Bairns celebrates April Fools Day with a memorable stunt, and some serious football which decides one cup finalist and the last promotion place in the country. A full month after the end of the season, but nobody's perfect.