7 Reasons

Tag: interview

  • Russian Roulette Sunday: In Conversation With Jonathan Lee

    Russian Roulette Sunday: In Conversation With Jonathan Lee

    In an interview that is still being talked about fondly in at least one corridor in Nottingham University’s halls of residence, the co-founder of 7 Reasons, Marc Fearns, was interviewed by another co-founder of 7 Reasons, Jonathan Lee. If you missed it you still have time to check it out. It won’t be coming down until yesterday at 6pm when the world ended. This link will take you there. Do come back though because this week the tables have been turned. Or at least the sofa has. Or at least it was going to turn. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, Marc can’t be here. Being the creative chap Jon is though, he has decided to press ahead with the interview. So, here is Jonathan Lee in conversation with himself.

    Russian Roulette Sunday: In Conversation With Jonathan LeeJL: Thanks for coming Jon.

    JL: No problem.

    JL: I like what you’re wearing.

    JL: Ah, thanks. Claire doesn’t wear it much these days so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

    JL: You can pull it off.

    JL: I can, but not right now. We have an interview to do.

    JL: Yes, sorry. So, 7 Reasons, how much longer are you going to keep doing it for?

    JL: Who knows. At present working for myself means I can take time out to think of and write posts as well as all the other admin that goes into making it a ‘success’. That’s not going to last forever though. At some stage in the near future I expect to be working for someone else again and that means time for 7 Reasons will be heavily reduced.

    JL: So 7 Reasons might come to an end soon?

    JL: I didn’t say that.

    JL: It’s what you intimated.

    JL: It’s always a possibility and Marc and I both know this can’t last forever.

    JL: So, this time next year, will 7 Reasons be around?

    JL: It’ll be around, in what form I don’t know. You’ll see a slow down in the number of 7 Reasons posts we churn out before we say goodbye permanently. I would be surprised if we are posting every single day this time next year. But I thought that last year too. We’ll be two years old in a few months and writing every single day in the same format for two years is hard work.

    JL: Are you tired then?

    JL: Very.

    JL: Is there anything you want to achieve with 7 Reasons before you shut the door on it?

    JL: We’re working on a couple of things outside of the 7 Reason website. I’d be surprised if we don’t make at least one of those happen. Certainly from my point of view I would like the 7 Reasons concept to be able to exist without the website.

    JL: So are we talking about an Edinburgh Fringe show?

    JL: Maybe.

    JL: When you look back, what one moment stands out for you?

    JL: England winning the Ashes in Australia, just fractionally ahead of winning the Rugby World Cup.

    JL: I really meant within or because of 7 Reasons.

    JL: Oh. I don’t have one. When people say they’ve enjoyed reading a post that’s very gratifying, unless it’s a Marc Fearns post in which case it’s a bit sickening to watch to be honest.

    JL: Is there a rivalry between you?

    JL: I’m not sure. I think we drive each other to try and be better writers, but there is no jealousy if the other’s post is picked up by Umbro or The Guardian or whoever. We know that 7 Reasons is the sum of its parts and it simply wouldn’t work if one of us wasn’t there.

    JL: That’s nice.

    JL: Next question.

    JL: What’s the worst post you’ve ever written?

    JL: Anything that attempted to drive audience participation. Whether there was our quest to find the ‘8th Reasoner’ or our challenge for readers to ‘Pimp Our Sofa’. I completely misjudged just how lazy our audience was. And the ideas were rubbish. We had entries – some good ones – but ultimately they didn’t inspire the majority.

    JL: And the best?

    JL: Probably the posts that I have ghost written for other people.

    JL: You do that?!

    JL: For a fee.

    JL: How much did SirStraussy pay you?

    JL: He wrote that himself.

    JL: And finally, you’re getting married next year. Is there going to be a 7 Reasons theme?

    JL: No chance.

    JL: Why not?

    JL: You’ll have to read this forthcoming Tuesday’s post to find that out.

    JL: Thanks for talking to us. I had fun.

    JL: I’m glad one of us did.

  • 7 Reasons That Match of the Day 2 is Better Than Match of the Day

    7 Reasons That Match of the Day 2 is Better Than Match of the Day

    The BBC Match Of The Day 2 (two) logo. MOTD2, BBC TV Football programme,Premier League

    1.  Gary Lineker. Unlike many people, I don’t mind Gary Lineker; he’s knowledgable, charming and his ad-libs are great.  In an incident during a live match, when someone in the crowd hurled a coin at Jamie Carragher, the cameras showed Carragher picking the coin up and forcefully throwing it back.  “It’s probably his change,” Lineker drolly observed.  The problem I have with watching Gary Lineker for more than ten minutes is that I start to crave crisps.  Speaking of which:

    2.  Adrian Chiles.  Part-man, part-potato, Adrian Chiles is the television presenter equivalent of Marmite.  I like him.  I love the seemingly limitless supply of daft questions that he uses to torment Lee Dixon:

    “Did Ian Wright ever borrow your shorts, Lee?”

    “Did Tony Adams kiss you like that when you scored a goal, Lee?”

    “Did you ever get the ball mixed up with a balloon, Lee?”

    “Did they celebrate like that in your day, Lee?”

    Some people can’t stand him though.  Stewart Lee likened watching him to “… being stuck in the buffet car of a slow-moving train with a Toby jug that has miraculously discovered the power of speech…A Toby jug filled to the brim with hot piss.”

    I’m firmly in the I-like-Adrian-Chiles-camp and I even miss his much-criticised beard.  Anyone interested in starting a campaign to bring it back?

    3.  Alan Shearer.  Alan Shearer is the dullest man in the world.   He’s always on Match of the Day where he provides no tactical insight and no wit.  Essentially, he just states the bleeding-obvious in a really dull way.  Here’s a Shoot magazine interview with him from 1991 (click on it to see it full-sized):

    An interview with Alan Shearer From Shoot Football magazine 1991

    4.  Whooshing. Both MOTD and MOTD2 suffer from this.  Seriously, could the sound effects that accompany the opening titles be more ridiculous?  At the end of the title sequence, there’s about thirty seconds of whooshing noises, for no reason.  Why?  Stupid pointless bloody whooshy noises!  MOTD2 wins here as I’m quite busy on Sundays and I usually manage to miss the first couple of minutes of it.

    5.  Kevin Day. While MOTD is serious and analytical, MOTD2 is a more light-hearted and jovial affair.  The most obvious manifestation of this is the presence of former comedian Kevin Day.  His role is that of the travelling buffoon, turning up at a different ground every week to mock daft supporters, eat pies and generally annoy the clubs’ staff.  I want his job:  I can mock and annoy, I can eat pies.  My football team is crap too.  And I’m cheaper.

    6.  Keown. Martin Keown often appears on MOTD2.  Martin Keown is the scariest man alive, scarier even that Sebastien Chabal.  When he’s on screen I find myself trying to slide down the sofa and hide behind the coffee table.  Conversations with my wife tend to go like this during MOTD2:

    “Are you scared of Martin Keown, darling?”

    “Yes.”

    It doesn’t matter who asks the question.  We’re both afraid of Martin Keown.  He mostly appears on MOTD2, so even if I didn’t believe it, I’d tell you that MOTD2 was better.  Otherwise he might beat me to death with a rock.  Or discover fire and burn an effigy of me in his cave.  While grunting, possibly.

    7.  Finale.  The denouement of MOTD2 and, often, the highlight of Sunday is 2 Good 2 Bad, and it’s obviously the part of the show that Chiles relishes too.  This means that Match of the Day 2 ends on a high.  Match of the Day doesn’t though, it ends with the knowledge that if you don’t get off the sofa soon, you’ll have to watch the awful title sequence for the Football League show, featuring chirpy-cheeky football fans having a knees-up, and then watch Manish – apparently lost – wandering aimlessy around the studio introducing the show.  Why can’t he just stand still?  He’s been doing it for almost a season, why doesn’t he know where to stand yet?