Dispatches From The Sofa

A collection of Frank Skinner's most brilliant, biting, gut-bustingly funny columns for The Times. For several years, legendary comedian Frank Skinner wrote a weekly column for The Times. Without fail, he sat down and wracked his brain to think of something to write 900 words about, frequently giving up and writing about football instead. Dispatches from the Sofa is the brilliant result. Pondering such random topics as the potential demise of Margaret Thatcher, the love-hate relationship with your football club, the banking crisis and the evil phenomenon of Jedward, this is wit and wisdom, and a fine sense of the absurd, all rolled into one.

The study of football fandom is a fast-growing area of research in the sociology of sport. The first work of its kind, this book explores football fan activism and its impact on contemporary football culture in England, Italy and the Czech Republic. Presenting a comparative study of fan activism in national and transnational contexts, it explores the characteristics of each country’s football fan culture as well as the varying and at times volatile dynamics between fans, authorities and the mass media. Its chapters address key themes and issues including: fans’ reactions to policing and security measures in football stadiums; the socio-cultural significance of symbols and rituals for fans at football games; and fans’ critical engagement with football club ownership and management. Offering original insights into the power of fan activism to influence social change, this book has wider implications for understanding social movements in other cultural and political spheres beyond Europe. Football Fans, Activism and Social Change is fascinating reading for all students, scholars and football fans with an interest in sport studies, fan culture, politics and society.

The term "blog" wasn't coined until 1999 and yet by 2004, it had become Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year. Globally, the number of blogs is doubling every six months, with more than 50 million blogs online today. Here to offer a unique overview of the emerging phenomenon that even armchair observers will find curiosity-satisfying is Dispatches from Blogistan: A Travel Guide for the Modern Blogger. Filled with practical, easy-to-implement advice for making blogging more enjoyable, useful, and profitable, this book covers everything from blogging and how it fits into the history of journalism to practical tips for planning and managing a blog, attracting and retaining an active readership. Written by noted technology journalist and interactive media veteran Su zanne Stefanac, the book features a fresh and succinct approach; quotes and commentary from noted and celebrity bloggers (author/futurist Bruce Sterling, NPR commentator Farai Chideya, Craig Newmark of craigslist.com, and Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing editor and science fiction author, among others); an accompanying blog site (dispatchesfromblogistan.com); and more. Stefanac explores issues of trust, influence, privacy, discovery, and the power of collaborative discourse, making this is a blog book like no other!