Gnash

Blood Diamond - 8/10 Leonardo Di Capriati does a surprisingly good imitation of a Zimbabwean diamond smuggler. And it has the flawless Jennifer Connelly, so this film was always going to be a winner.

Zanzibar by Giles Foden (the same boy that wrote The Last King of Scotland) A marine biologist and bird he wants to bone get embroiled in a terrorist plot on the tropical island of Zanzibar. Took me ages to get into it and as soon as I did, it got boring again. I think Foden was trying to get into the mind of the terrorist rather than trying to write an interesting novel. 3/10

Play-off place? They are surely the favourites for the title now.

No, although I have done both on a previous climb. From Benmore Farm it was straight up and down, a bit boring but it got the heart pumping. If you are looking for a more interesting climb, rather than trying to do it as quickly as possible, I would start at the Balquidder side and do Stob Binnean first. It really is a lovely climb, albeit a bit of a slog (as Socks mentioned) to have to do Stob Binnean a second time. I did it in October and there were a few completely frozen lochans near the top of Stob Binnean.

It can be done - up and down - from the Ben More farm in 2 hours.

American Psycho - the scenes of violence are easily the most horrific I have ever read. You love it if you're into that sort of stuff. Otherwise, it gets a bit bogged down in endlessly parrotting off what his mates are wearing, what he's having for breakfast and why Phil Collins is a genius. The Last King of Scotland - it's fairly different to the film, and quite odd in that the 'hero' is a very flawed individual. It's a brilliant insight into what it must be like to live in a country with a dictator, and what an psychotic tyrant Idi Admin was.

Hill walking is great, shame none of my pals are into it. When I was a bit younger I did 25-30 munros including Ben Lomond, Ben Vorlich, Ben More (Crianlarich), Ben Nevis, Shiehallion. Recently I've only been climbing 2-3 times a year because it's not as much fun on yer ain. I managed to pursuade the good lady to climb Ben Cleuch but to be honest that was the limit of her capability. Ben More (again) is my most recent.

6-1 6-0. Ouch!!

European Son - The Velvet Underground and Nico

To put it yet another way - the points he wins in the past year contribute towards his ranking. After this year's tournament is over, last year's tournament is no longer in the past year so it no longer counts towards his ranking.

Recently finished John Grisham's The Rainmaker. Good book, not so much about law as you might think. The best bit is when he meets the beautiful woman and immediately falls in lust with her. It's almost as if he was reading my mind when he wrote it. Currently reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time.

The melody of the smashing of kitchen crockery and the gnashing of teeth during next door's domestic.