English Soccer Results.....

As the Bangles sang back this time of year in 1986, it is indeed another "Manic Monday." The song actually got to number two on the Billboard pop chart only to be blocked by Prince and his smash-hit "Kiss." Ironically, Prince wrote "Manic Monday." I saw the Bangles vinyl record with that song plus "Walk Like an Egyptian" at a used bookstore in Greensboro, NC, for like five dollars. I passed, but not before thinking about it.

So, we decided to have a post that would take less time and research than normal. Alas, like the late Russian author Leo Tolstoy (of "War and Peace" fame) brevity is not one of my strengths. Thus, we are simply going to post weekend results from the English Premiere League in the hopes that this will also boost blog hits from across the pond.

The big game of the week was Manchester United-Chelsea, a game which Man U won 2-1; the event was described 'as the Royal Wedding for men."

Here is the complete list of games played on Saturday and Sunday; for the record, I am a bit out of the loop when it comes to English soccer, which perhaps even has a following in Abbottabad, Pakistan (we just mentioned that, so we could use the city in our tags, personally I am getting Osama bin Laden is Dead fatigue), but I do listen to broadcasts of the BBC World Service virtually every night, so this seems fitting. In fact, I just learned earlier this year than Man U and Man City were two different teams!:

Manchester United 2 Chelsea 1

Stoke City 3 Arsenal 1

Aston Villa 1 Wigan Athletic 1

Sunderland 2 Bolton 1

Wolverhampton 2 west Bromwich 1

Tottenham 1 Blackpool 1

West Ham United 1 Blackburn 1

Newcastle 2 Birmingham 1

Everton 2 Manchester City 1

I should credit my friend Chris Knight for letting me know about the world of Leggo Soccer during the 2010 World Cup.

Since Chris is a big science-fiction fan, I thought he might like this quip from English comic actor Simon Pegg who was recently in "Paul," a road movie about two English science-fiction/comic book guys traveling to Nevada to see Area 51. Here, in an interview for "Rolling Stone," Pegg is talking about his hometown of Gloucestershire, England:

"It's an old port town where nothing much goes on," Pegg says. "The only other famous person from Gloucestershire is a serial killer."

Through some research via Google (check out that tribute to the late English children's author Roger Hargreaves they have up today), we found out that man was Fred West (1941-1995). With the help of his wife Rosemary, West killed approximately 12 girls. He committed suicide by hanging with a rope in his cell at age 53.

On a happier note, we learned there is an interesting band with an interesting name called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart; the New York indie rock group has a new single called "Anne with an E." So, if you know anyone named Anne as opposed to Ann, be sure to tell them about it!