This blog is my online spot for keeping track of the latest news, look back on parts of history that are often forgotten, and write about the things that just fascinate me. Often it seems like my personal interests are not really those of most people. And geographically for sure, people often told me that I am attracted to very obscure places as much as to the more common destination. Hence, this blog is a tribute to all those tiny islands on the map of which most people hardly know they exist but who kept me dreaming for many years wondering how they would look, a tribute to the countries and cities few people manage to locate or few people would go to because of misunderstandings on the place.
Furthermore, I have been obsessed with soccer/football since childhood, but also here my interests seem to be obscure. I do admit I do watch the English Premiership, the Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga, the European Cups, … However, I can find it just as fascinating to watch a game of the Luxembourgish league or to read about football fan culture (if existing at all) in for example Mongolia or Mauretania. I find obscure and often ignored teams as fascinating to talk about or watch, and I try to not only watch the top-flight of countries’ leagues, I prefer to also stay updated on what happens in the 4th or 6th division.
And finally, my last passion that will be a core subject in this blog, is music. I cannot say how much musicians such as Ian McCulloch, Morrissey, Maynard James Keenan, etc have inspired me and how many hours I spent trying to analyse and understand the lyrics of songs by the Manic Street Preachers, Bauhaus, Indochine, … I don’t want to tag myself as an indie kid or claim to be officially into a subculture (even when my musical taste may give that impression) and to totally ignore the mainstream. I do have U2 songs I love, there are a lot of songs by Black Sabbath or Muse (to name just a few examples of bands I love who made it big) that I really love. However, it is equally important to make sure that bands such as The Connells, The God Machine, Echobelly, etc won’t be forgotten or vanish into obscurity.
In other words, other than my basic place to vent my spleen about ongoing football games, new records or concerts, … I also hope this place will put some countries, little islands, isolated remote cities into the limelight ; or that I may be able to spark some interest to also give football clubs from Azerbaijan, Korea(s), Greenland etc a look ; or to maybe, without ditching your existing musical heroes, give some bands a try that don’t get the recognition they deserve (yet). This blog is a tribute to these more obscure places and since being curious in a place usually will push me to find out about their local football and music scene, I will try to also pay a fitting tribute to those. Because while keeping an eye on the main events, there is a lot to discover when … walking the paths less travelled.
The Paths Less Travelled 