Is this a good idea?

Was this a good idea?

2007-04-02T13:24:00.001+01:00

It's finished!

You can find me here - come by and say hi!

It snowed. I took photos

2007-02-09T08:56:00.000Z

Many more here

Snow is still exciting

2007-02-08T07:35:00.000Z

Despite being "almost 30" I still turn into an 8 year old when I see snow...

Observations on banking

2007-02-05T13:37:00.000Z

I went to HSBC Bank at the Scott Arms earlier, to withdraw some dough. I have 3 observations:

1. The "starting your own business" leaflet had a cool looking dude with 2 tattoos, wearing a t-shirt and jeans and no shoes, sitting on a stool.

2. The in house radio station was playing Sympathy for the Devil.

3. There were cardboard cut outs with pictures of a. two pandas hugging; b. a baby polar bear; c. a cute tiger cub. It wasn't immediately clear why, although eventually I did see a little display of bookmarks about how sustainable HSBC were.

Banks are weird.

You know those "you know you are a child of the 80s if you..." email things?

2007-02-01T07:41:00.000Z

Well, I have an addition for them...

You know you're a child of the 70s or 80s if you can't pull up the hood of your coat without feeling like Obi Wan.

Wogan vs Carrots.

2007-01-22T14:35:00.000Z

Earlier on today I was asked what was better: Carrots or Terry Wogan. This was my answer. What would yours be?

Carrots or Terry Wogan. Excellent question – in fact, really in masters degrees in broadcast communication and catering, that’s the central tenet of many a good thesis. If it was broccoli vs wogan (as would surely have been the fashion in the 90s) then broccoli would win – but carrots don’t have the moral authority that broccoli has. Ok…so Carrot and Coriander soup may be the king of soups, and indeed, generally considered nicer than Wogan and coriander soup, but the Carrot Breakfast Show experiment proved a huge failure when the carrot consistently forgot to back announce records so no-one knew what he’d been playing. The Carrot did play some pretty good music though and had a penchant for folk-rock which lead to The Byrds reforming for the one off “Carrotacula” at Alton Towers. Seeing “Turn, Turn, Turn” lip synced by one of the greatest west coast bands of all times whilst riding the corkscrew was surely a cultural highlight of the last millennia.

Then there’s Eurovision – well, could a carrot do that job? I don’t think so…Sadly for Terry though, as good as he is, he’s not rich enough in the vital nutrient Beta-Carotene, and you can’t grate him and put him in a salad, so he loses. But it was close.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T12:36:00.000Z

And a lovely 2007 to one and all :)

The Blogger Poker Tour

2006-12-15T22:20:00.000Z

So, eagle eyed readers may have spied way down the page a banner about the Blogger Poker Tour, which I've been a keen participant in, if not writer abouter...

Well, top notch poker blogger and all round BPT coverer extraordinaire Mike has blackmailed me into writing substantitively about it in order to be potentially in line to pick up some much needed bonus points if I bust him out of the tournament. (Mike, I'm assuming, not being familiar with the term and being all English and suchlike, that that's what "launching" means :) )

I don't normally write about poker on my blog, for a variety of reasons, but it's by far my favourite game in the world, and in the not too distant future will HOPEFULLY be a facet of my professional life (not in the 'making money from playing poker' way though, I have neither the "mad skillz" nor "desire" to do that for a living) but in that I'm working on a project that involves poker...more hints and clues and stuff to follow...

Anyway, the BPT has been a series of freeroll tournaments, which are poker tournaments with no entry fee, which offer a prize...I have won no prizes whatsoever this season, but last season I won a huuuge $30, which I managed to build up quite a bit before removing the funds and paying some bills...Although I've not won any prizes, David's been crushing the BPT this season and is more or less guaranteed his place in the final...I'm sure he'd credit me and Phill with helping him with his game and being contributory to his success (I say I'm sure, but what I mean is "maybe" :) ) His game is constantly dangerous and unpredictable and he's got increasingly fearless which has really helped. I've had some excellent results away from the BPT, but it's just not been my stomping ground - I've managed a couple of "get near the final table and get horribly beat" finishes, but nothing better. I have had a great time there, and loved reading the coverage, especially Mike's - I know there's an incredible prize for the best blog coverage of the BPT, and I'm sure that's been a huge part of his motivation, but regardless, he's been absolutely devoted to the cause of the BPT, and expanding it, and it's fitting that he's hosting the last event of the season. It was gonna be PL Omaha hi lo split, which would have been AWESOME, but poker.com, where the tour is held, has not rolled out their software update in time so it's going to be deep stack no limit holdem. I could not be more pleased about this, as I've NEVER played a tournament with more than 2500 starting chips online, and am constantly bugging David, Phill and James to start with insane numbers of chips in our regular games - I think my natural game, which is to see as many flops as possible in position, is well suited to deep stacked games...anyway, I'll probably ending up busting out really early, but I'm sure it'll be fun - I'll let you know how I did tomorrow!

Love

2006-11-21T00:21:00.000Z

So, the Beatles have a new album out.

And it's absolutely stunning. Just...stunning.

The Royal Tenenbaums Sketchbook

2006-11-19T22:01:00.000Z

The Royal Tenenbaums is right up there with my favourite films. I really like this

I've said it before...

2006-11-19T21:40:00.000Z

And I'll say it again...

I LOVE Firefox...

I'm no political analyst

2006-11-09T11:22:00.000Z

But with the Dems winning some actual political influence and powers of oversight, could they not maybe investigate this a bit?

Talking of the midterms, I've spent the morning going through the political news section of digg, grinning and digging like a miner on double digging day

I have AMAZING friends

2006-11-01T11:23:00.000Z

So, having been sad that I couldn't upload all my photos to flickr last week, I relayed the story of the 20mb upload limit to my friend Graham.

Today he appears on IM to say "I've bought you a present." We played the yes no game in order for me to guess and on my 8th attempt, with a fairly big clue, I got it...He's got me a pro account on flickr! He claimed they played a jedi mind trick on him by asking "Do you want to buy paulansorge a pro account?" whilst he was looking at my photos - he realised he did apparently! So, I've been uploading photos, and if it takes your fancy, please do go and have a look at my photo stream. For now, here's a picture called Mystery Path 2 to indicate the paths of photography that I can now walk down (or something like that anyway...)

Heartening Haloween Happenings

2006-11-01T09:30:00.000Z

So yesterday me and my esteemed housemate had just returned home from an adventure and were standing around in the kitchen waiting for either the kettle to boil or the tea to be brewed when I spied several children trotting up to the front door. I thought one of them might have had a cape on and at a rough glance there looked to be about 3 of them. "Uh oh" I thought. "No treats have we" I thought. Then I spied the array of nature's bounty that we had in our metaphorical fruit bowl (we don't have an actual *bowl* as such, the fruit just sits on the side). Here was my chance to give out treats with a clean concious - healthy treats! Delicious vitamin packed treats! These kids are definitely gonna egg our house for giving them these treats treats! So I went to the door, laden with oranges, apples and kiwi fruits, expecting to see three disappointed becostumed kids. When I got there I saw five excited lightly-costumed-at-best kids - kids dressed up as "A gang of kids going from house to house demanding treats"...They "trick-or-treat"ed at me in best brummy accents and looked genuinely DELIGHTED when I offered them a choice of fruit. Kiwis went down best, followed by apples - the satsumas went untouched - who says kids aren't smart? Off they trotted to be rewarded by others for their complete lack of satorial efforts with actual sweets, and I was left with a warm sense of the righteousness of Jamie Oliver...

A Tree on its Own

2006-10-27T16:29:00.000+01:00

More than Two Tone (Innit)

2006-10-26T14:52:00.000+01:00

Flickr has a monthly upload limit!

2006-10-24T14:45:00.000+01:00

Oh no!

My plans are foiled!

20mb a month for free...2gb a month for £12 a year...

*sigh*

I like autumn

2006-10-24T14:00:00.000+01:00

Photos

2006-10-23T12:48:00.000+01:00

I'm gonna work out how to get some flickr action going on on the blog, but for now, here's a link to my photo stream, which I'm currently updating...

Dylantastic

2006-10-22T16:59:00.000+01:00

Clicky...(sound's an integral part of this, so plug in those headphones!)

via Cllr Bob

AdBlock

2006-10-20T21:23:00.000+01:00

So...

The other day, my friend G mentioned adblock in passing...

I was all, "whassat then dude" and he was all "you must know what that is" but I didn't (actually, we don't really talk like that).

Anyway, AdBlock is an extension for firefox which does a terrific job of blocking ads...I use adblock plus with adblock filterset.G updater (that sounds complex, and probably is, but it all works nicely...)

Anyway, after I'd installed the extentsions I said, with no hint of irony "It's like a whole new internet" and I'd heartily recommend them...

It's worth saying that by blocking adverts, I don't mean blocking popups, but actual ads in sites...No more "shoot the ninja, win an iPod", no more "find girls in your area" No more "earn $750 a day by cheating at online poker"...Just content and what you're actually after...Brilliant!

We broke the comments

2006-10-18T16:05:00.000+01:00

So, by setting a world record for comments on this blog we've broken Haloscan, the company that provide my comments service. Their website is down too, I'm sure normal service will be resumed shortly...

In the meantime, you know, if anyone wants to get in touch there's an email link on my blogger profile :)

Things I've been enjoying

2006-10-17T23:51:00.000+01:00

So, it's been a long period of non-posting...here are somethings I've been enjoying...

Digg

This amazing version of Hey Ya

Line Rider

The Circuit

JimJeroo on the DigeriDoo

This amazing version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The Ninja Game

Radioness

2006-10-17T15:05:00.000+01:00

So, I've posted about this before, but it seems like it might be time for what's called a reset. Me and David do a weekly radio show for uknova radio called The Peace and Iyatoni show...There's a show tonight at 7pm BST and you can listen by entering http://213.230.203.28:8000/ into the open url function of your favourite media player.

You can find archive goodness at www.peaceandiyatoni.com

Oat-tastic

2006-10-15T14:32:00.000+01:00

Weetabix have just released a new product called Oatibix.

You have no idea how pleased I am about that...

Jackson Pollock

2006-07-06T22:46:00.000+01:00

This is brilliant.

Found via Pete

Allez Les Bleus Again!

2006-07-06T17:23:00.000+01:00

Well, Zizou's last ever match will be a world cup final. If that's not appropriate, I don't know what is...

Wow

2006-07-04T22:46:00.000+01:00

Just.

Wow...

That's by far the best game of the world cup, and it might just be the best World Cup semi final I've ever seen (certainly the best I can remember off the top of my head.) It's *definitely* the most attacking performance I've ever seen from Italy in a massive game. They deserved it I think...Lots will be said about the fantastic spirit the game was played in to - hope for all of us disheartened by the cynicism that is ruining the game we all love. It was a game that lit up the tournament, and if it's matched by any of the remaining games we might all remember this as a brilliant world cup after all.

Let's hope Portugal don't dive France out of the tournament tomorrow...

Allez les Bleus

2006-07-02T00:54:00.000+01:00

Well, Zidane must be a contender for player of the tournament, and that must be a contender for performance of the tournament.

My only worry now is that all the teams that have played really well have gone out - I'm hoping it's not gonna be an Italy-Portugal final. The last four are all European teams - that would have seemed fairly far fetched a week ago. It's clearly not been a great world cup, yet, in terms of quality, although there has been a lot of entertainment...I've enjoyed it anyway, and I'm glad that France at least have made it to the semi finals.

I was proud of England today, in a strange way. Proud of the way they played when they went down to ten, proud of the unabashed support they got from the fans, support which sounded whole hearted and non-judgemental, just support. It's all a bit soon to try and make sense out of it, but I had two predictions in mind for England and the start of the tournament, and this is the one that's come true. The other one would have maybe been better.

Finally, a game we deserved to win...

2006-07-01T18:58:00.000+01:00

Let's face it. Penalties was never gonna go well was it...

Today's The Day

2006-07-01T14:18:00.000+01:00

So, my Father's parents were both German Jewish refugees, who escaped to London in the 1930s and brought my dad up as an Englishman - there was little talk of the homeland, apart from fond memories of the Weimar Republic. I have little feeling of being German, and have never been there, despite the origin of half my genes. My Mum, on the other hand is French, and with trips to visit granparents in Paris and Macon, and my aunt and cousins in Lyon, I've always felt quite French. And of course I was born here, in England, and lived most of my life here, apart from a couple of years in Zimbabwe and another couple in Wales. So I feel very English.

Above all though, I strive to not find attachments in nationality, but to see myself, as cliched as it might sound to cynical ears, as a citizen of the world, as part of the human family, as much a brother to an Innuit as a son of the Green and Pleasant Land. But today that's going to be stretched a bit as the two teams I have supported all my life, who brought tears in 1986, ups and downs in 1990, inglorious anonimity in '94, glorious vibrant mulitcultural triumph in '98 and crushing disappointment in Saipan in 2002, take to the quarter final stage against two countries entwined by history and culture, and indeed a manager. By the end of today they could have set up the semi-final I couldn't have hoped for at the beginning of the tournament or they could have left me clutching at genetic straws and supporting Germany.

So allez Les Bleus, and Come On England, let joy be unabashed, but if it's not to be, at least have a proper go at it...And if it is not to be, at least let me remain fairly even keeled about it, remembering that it's only a game, and we're all only human beings and we belong to the earth more than any specific part of it...

We Love You Curt

2006-06-28T00:20:00.000+01:00

A pause to remember a friend. Normal service will be resumed soon.

Curtis was one of the most extraordinary people I've ever met and he moved on 6 years ago today.

Here's a song for them what loved him...

What a couple of days

2006-06-25T22:02:00.000+01:00

So, we've got Scolari again...3rd time lucky?

Obviously that referee was insane, and despite the fact that it's obviously good for England that they are without Deco, but still, I can't help but feel sorry for him.

Germany were once again not really challenged - the Sweden that played in the second half against England never turned up. Once again they looked good going forward, but we won't know how good they are at the back until later in the week, when we'll really find out. Because they'll be playing Argentina - I knew it was going to be their day against a very impressive Mexico when Heinze avoided a DEFINITE red just before half time...*Maybe* Walcott could have made up that gap but Roberto Ayala certainly wouldn't have. Argentina looked a little shaky at the back mind you, and that will give everyone hope...

That game between Portugal and Holland was crazy and I can't help feeling sorry for Ruud - not even getting on as a sub, probably losing his club, and out of the world cup...Portugal, even without Deco, will be a huge threat to England, but I'd rather take them on than a full contingent of the Dutch...

So onto England. I'm sure the "media" will be slating England for "only" winning 1-0 against "lowly" Ecuador. But that's not a fair reflection I don't think. Rooney was absolutely magnificent, for almost the full 93 minutes. Joe Cole had an off day, as did Lampard (well, Lampard's having an off-world-cup). If Frankie had had his shooting boots on it could easily have been 2 or 3. Alright, Becks *was* a bit rubbish but obviously he was the match winner. Rio looked good, Carrick looked good, Ashley Cole looked great, Terry was poor but has plenty more in the tank. Bringing Lennon on worked a treat and he held the ball up brilliantly. I thought the formation worked pretty well, and I think we can beat Portugal. And if we do, it will mean we've raised our game and then, I say again, it could be a sight to see...

Note to Lars Lagerbeck

2006-06-24T17:51:00.000+01:00

Congratulations on your excellent name. You may want to think about not making substitutions whilst your star striker is waiting to take a penalty which could make him your countries all time greatest goal scorer in world cups and keep you in the tournament. You know. Just a thought...

Not that anyone is going to mind or anything...

2006-06-24T16:06:00.000+01:00

But I've fallen behind with the ol' World Cup blogging! Time for a Batch 3 round up, written as I watch Germany take a 4th minute lead against Sweden - Podolski has just scored and, as he did with his first goal in the tournament, run over to the German bench to celebrate with the subs.

So, Batch 3 - It featured, if not the best, than at least my favourite goal of the tournament so far. It featured the most disappointing game so far in Holland against Argentina. It featured the most heartwrenching moment as St Michael's knee crumpled under him. It featured the single most dull game so far in Tunisia vs Ukraine. It featured a Brazil team that finally showed up, and a French team who managed to suceed despite what appeared to be an overwhelming weight of desire and expectation and nervousness threatening to defeat them in a way Togo never looked likely to. It featured the first game of the tournament that I haven't seen all the goals from in Ivory Coast vs Serbia and Montenegro, notable also for being the only game of the tournament which will be the last ever for a whole actual country. (Podolski's just scored again). It also saw some awful refeering...There was something strangely satisfying about Graham Poll's disastrous triple yellow card action. English commentators and pundits and journalists are always so sniffy about "foreign" referees, and it's vaguely amusing to see them all with egg on their faces, although my heart goes out to Mr Poll himself...In a vaguely related note, SURELY yellow cards that keep you out of crucial games should be appealable?

Right, I'm off to belatedly change around my fantasty football team...We are in the knockout stages at last, and I think predictions at this stage risk serious fool-hardiness, so I'm not even going to try. Except to say that I predict that before this world cup is out we will have seen at least one properly convincing display by England. I hope I'm not wrong on that...

"You fell asleeeep?"

2006-06-21T19:55:00.000+01:00

Finally, a second half doze! It took most of 35 games, and some of them a little dull, in warm weather...I'm normally fairly inclined to fall asleep in front of the telly, but I haven't so much as nodded off so far. Until today - the first half of Mexico Portugal was a good half of football too, but somehow my heavy eyelids got the better of me. Still, I saw enough to boldly predict that Mexico will go out next round, whether they play Argentina or Holland, and that Portugal will cause either side problems. It's getting interesting now! And just at that key moment, I'm starting to nod off...

Ing-er, are we really sure about this-and

2006-06-21T19:44:00.000+01:00

Watching Michael Owen crumble out of the world cup last night was a terrible moment. Topping the group was a better one. It's very sad for Sir Michael and indeed it's not good news for England, but all the speculation that it might lead to Sven playing 4-5-1 is promising.

We were slightly better last night than we had been against T&T and we were slightly better against T&T than we were against Paraguay, so there is still some hope - the winning of the group was absolutely vital - Ecuador are obviously no mugs, but it's an infinitely favourable tie to playing Germany and gives us another game to find our groove before we face the really big sides. And the groove is there to be found. Joe Cole is playing out of his skin - much will be written about the incredible goal he scored last night (individual goal of the tournament so far, surely) but my favourite Joe Cole moment last night was the little flick up of his head that enabled him to see that Gerrard had peeled away at the far end of the box before he crossed the ball which Gerrard powered home. It's the kind of awareness of the game around him that has improved so much - he wasn't looking to dribble the ball unecessarily, he was looking for others, to devestating effect. Gerrard was magnificent in his Rooney replacing role - Roy of the Rovers stuff, clearing the ball from the goal line and scoring the crucial goal. Our defense looked inexplicably shaky on crosses, but I don't mind that too much, given that it hasn't stopped us winning the group, because I think they'll get it together. Rooney was magnificent in the first half, and there's plenty more to come from him.

We are miles behind the top teams, but there's a lot of room for optimism in amongst the doom and gloom. And we won the group. Which is good.

Is it fair to describe this performance as ruthlessly efficient?

2006-06-20T16:38:00.000+01:00

I am reluctant to, given the cliche, and the stereotypical overtones, but it would be a fair appraisal. In proper lazy hack fashion, I'm writing this 15 minutes before full time, Germany are 3-0 up without having had to exactly break their necks. Ecuador have rested key players and look much weaker for it, but Germany have looked really dangerous going forward - Podolski breaking his duck was quite a moment, and the crowd went absolutely balistic. The fans are singing "Jurgen Klinsmann" with some considerable relish - Germany have probably already performed better than expected and you can sense a real feeling that they could improve still further and cause some of the "bigger" teams trouble. It will be very interesting to see their defense (which has looked better than it did in the first game) against world class attacking lineups - if England do manage to get a result against Sweden it means the Germans will play Sweden or T&T - a pretty favourable draw in anyone's book.

Talking of England getting a result, the best thing about this result is that it means all talk of whether England should throw the Sweden game if Ecuador top the group are now redundant. If everything goes according to WallChartPredicting 101 Argentina will meet Germany in the quarter finals, and since one of them always beats us, I wouldn't be sorry to see either of them go...

Batch 2

2006-06-20T14:51:00.000+01:00

Best Hair: Wilhelmson.

Best Goal: Durr! Cambiasso...

The Dude that refereed England Paraguay Memorial Shocking Refereeing Moment of the Tournament award: The Argentinian ref who took approximately 3 months to send off the defender then booked Gyan for taking the penalty too early.

The France in 2002 memorial award for not turning up at the tournament: France!

The "I really wish ITV had a red button service so I could listen to five live commentary in synch with the pictures" award: A hotly contested award, give then paucity of quality on ITV, but I think the dream team of Champion and Beglin just pip it.

The Greavsie Funny Old Game Award: Group E. The performances in Batch 2 in no way whatsoever reflected the performances in batch 1. Maybe Argentina will turn rubbish after all.

The "Oh my goodness, why couldn't we have been in Togo's group? We'd have walked it!" award: The Ivory Coast

The Trinidad and Tobago 0-0 upset award: Angola

The "If Fantasy Football was still on they'd show this clip over and over again" award: Graham Poll's beautifully weighted pass to set up the Ukraine against the Saudis.

Roll on batch 3!

Catching Up

2006-06-19T15:32:00.000+01:00

So, real life has got in the way and, though I have managed to watch most of all the games, I've not really been able to write about them...Here's some thoughts...

1-0 is not a defendable lead. Someone should have told Thierry and co that...

The Czech Republic make England's striker crisis look like a cake walk - they looked really toothless against the super impressive Ghana (whose second goal I celebrated more enthusiastically than any non-england goal of the tournament.)

Ghana may well regret that chance where they got themselves caught offside unecessarily and had a goal ruled out, because goal difference could well be a factor in that group.

They also may regret missing that penalty, in which case they should sue that Argentinian referee who caused a massive delay by taking three weeks to send off the Czech defender. The booking to Gyan was disgraceful as well - as if he was taking that first penalty to timewaste! It was the worst bit of refereeing so far.

That whole group is really proving that football might just be a funny old game after all - the Czechs and Italy looked so impressive in their first games and so the USA so profoundly unimpressive in theirs, but in the second batch of games it all changed round. This gives us all hope, in that Argentina might not continue to play like that.

The sending off of Mastroani of the US was the most blatant bit of levelling the playing field by a ref who had sent someone off and wasn't sure of himself of the world cup so far.

I hereby boldly predict that the ironically impressive in defeat Aussies will go through in second from that group.

The BBC's red button service, offering five live commentary is well worth using, except maybe for Jonathan Pearce games.

There's a South Korean player, who may be number 17 I think who can genuinely pull off a mullet without looking stupid.

Angola asked Mourinho for advice before the tournament because his wife was born there. He obliged and it seems to be working.

Brazil, it turns out, are not that good after all...(does that sound like famous last words to anyone else?) Ronaldo looked a tiny bit more up for it against the Aussies than he had against Croatia, but only a tiny bit.

Viva Ricardo! Viva Angola!

2006-06-16T21:58:00.000+01:00

Well, we had a festival of football this lunchtime, two excellent teams going at each other this tea time and we've just seen a country which has barely begun recovering from a civil war hold Mexico (who looked fairly impressive against Iran and are ranked very highly), largely thanks to a goalie who doesn't have a club. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: This really is the beautiful game.

Aurevoir Cote D'Ivoire

2006-06-16T20:53:00.000+01:00

Well, another one bites the dust. The Ivory Coast follow Poland, Costa Rica, Serbia and Montenegro and Paraguay out of the World Cup and they can count themselves as thoroughly unfortunate to have been drawn in the group of death-by-glorious-football. They have been, in attacking terms, by far the best African side in the tournament but they've come up against the best team in the tournament and another very good team. From what I've seen so far the Dutch are up there with Italy and the Czech Republic as teams with genuine ability performing at, or close to their best. Their back four did absolutely brilliantly today and only a moment of magic from Bakari Kone beat Edwin Van Der Saar, who looked in imperious form. As a United fan, it was great to see Ruud getting a goal - there was even talk that he might have made up with Fergie - and if Robben, despite a serious problem with selfishness, keeps up his form so far they could be a real threat further down the line. Van Basten has got them incredibly well organised and their game with Argentina could be amazing...

Argentina! Argentina!

2006-06-16T20:39:00.000+01:00

By 'eck son, that was a right good kick about weren't it? (Sorry, no idea why I'm writing in a terrible approximation of a northern dialect.)

Argentina were quite simply stunning - they played breath taking football for almost the full 90 minutes and 6 was the least they deserved. Cambiasso's goal will be shown over and over again till time immemorial, and at last Alberto's 1970 goal has a genuine rival for best team goal ever scored at a world cup. Aesthectically, I'm concerned that Cambiasso's slightly mis-hit finish will count against it, but the build up (24 passes don't you know) and Crespo's backheel were out of this world. None of the other goals were exactly shabby.

So, it looks like whoever wins this world cup is going to have to beat Argentina, and it's not going to be easy, but I'm not sure I'd agree that it's already a forgone conclusion that they will be taking their first world cup home from Europe. The key difference between them and the others who are there or thereabouts is that they've already hit a smooth, purring top gear. I know it appears ridiculous to suggest this after the T&T game yesterday and the sheer majesty of the Argentinian performance today, but I do still believe that England could have a team to challenge them...

The half time analysis on the BBC, comparing the positional play of the Argentinian midfield to Englands was extremely illuminating - if we can find away to bridge the gap between defense and attack more effectively we'll be yet another step closer to being the world beaters we could be. And if, and it's a HUGE if, we end up playing Argentina in the final of this world cup with a fit and on form Rooney and Owen up front and a midfield which has clicked we would have nothing to fear (except of course Tevez, Riquelme, Saviola, Crespo, Messi, towering genius central defenders, tenacious full backs who add firepower going forward and the most effective midfield engine room in the tournament)

Oh who am I kidding, let's all go home now and give them the thing!

EDIT: I should also probably add, in the interests of fairness, the following piece of information. It may have been the hayfever, and the fact that it kept me up most of the night, but Mick McCarthy made me laugh out loud...Kezman had gone down very easily under a challenge, and Big Mick, with the disdain only he can muster said "he'd have put up more a fight if his wallet was being nicked..." It tickled me for some reason...

We're through!!

2006-06-15T23:07:00.000+01:00

I can't BELIEVE how negative the analysis has been. We're through! After two games! We're going into our final game against Sweden and WE'RE ALREADY THROUGH! This, in my lifetime, is a unique experience. The first world cup I remember, we needed to win by 3 to get through (and we did, at that...)

As well as the factual positives I thought there were a lot of other positives. Michael Owen IS getting better, and looking a bit sharper. Rooney's back! Crouch scored! T&T really worked hard and were so well organised and up for it (to say it was their world cup final may be a cliche, but it's also true) and we still managed to beat them. Ok, so Crouch and Lampard both missed a couple of chances, but we looked vibrant, positive and purposeful for most of the game and most crucially of all Sven made exciting, brave and effective subsitutions which won the game. Beck's crossing was, for the most part, superb, Downing and Aaron Lennon made a real difference, Gerrard scored a blinder - Bruvvers and sisters, do not be downhearted! Alright, we don't look like Argentina yet but the pieces might just be falling into place, and we could just peak at the right moment.

Games what weren't England games

2006-06-15T22:55:00.000+01:00

Congrats to Ecuador - they heartily deserve their place in the second round and they'll be a threat. Congrats to Fabulous Freddie as well for his goal which has kept Sweden in it - unless I'm much mistaken though, I can't see them being a huge threat in this tournament. Ecuador could still be a factor though and I'm not entirely sure I would rather England met them than Germany in the next round.

Costa Rica were woeful, and Paraguay just didn't have enough going forward - it's amazing to think there's already 3 teams out of the tournament...

EDIT: Is Wilhelmson a padawan learner? That would explain the hair...

World Cup Blog Goodness

2006-06-14T23:53:00.000+01:00

If this isn't enough World Cup for you (and let's face it, you can't really have enough World Cup) - more great stuff is out there!

Finals Fantasy - More Analysis of The Football and the Television Coverage Thereof Than You Can Shake A Stick At (tm)

Soccerphile - Where my oldest friend in the world is Ranting on, from a slightly less myopicly Manchester Unitedly focused attention than he normally does :)

This is amazing - found at Finals Fantasy, it's the story of a man trying to watch world cup matches with fans from every nation.

The Guardian World Cup Blog - always good.

The BBC World Cup Blog - Sometimes good!

The two podcasts from the earlier post are both highly recommended.

The Story So Far

2006-06-14T22:35:00.000+01:00

Ok, so, every team has played - time for a quick opinionated round up - any comments and or opinions gratefully received.

Individual Performance of the tournament so far: Tough one - lots of great players on show, but for biggest single influence on a match I might have to give it to Shaka Hislop for his heroics against Sweden. Honourable mentions for Rafael Marquez against Iran, Arjen Robben against Serbia and Montenegro and Rosicky (NOT Rosidzky!!!!) against the US.

Team Performance of the tournament so far: Again, hard not to plump for T&T, for their defying logic and bookmaking odds draw against Sweden - especially given that they played the second half with 10 men.

Best Team So Far: Argentina. Or Italy. Or the Czechs, or maybe Spain...It's too hard! Argentina are the only one of those three to have faced really stiff opposition though, so let's give it to them.

Worst Team So Far: Well, in the first half today the Saudis had this sown up, but they fought back and they fought back hard. Iran are ruled out because they looked quite good going forward. Angola did really well against the Portuguese, and Togo were the better side for 70 minutes against South Korea. The Ukraine took the heaviest beating, but they were a bit unlucky - a penalty that wasn't, the freekick deflection, getting no joy out of the linesman...All this means that the outstanding candidates for this award then are, and believe me - I get no pleasure from this: The United States of America. Yes, the fifth highest ranked team in the world surely gave us the least impressive display so far - painfully short of ideas going forward and, despite looking fairly well organised they did ship three goals. Must do better uncle Sam!

Turnaround of the Tournament So Far: The Aussies! Cor, they are quite good at sport as a nation aren't they!

Motty moment so far: The warning about crockery at the beginning on England Paraguay, which turned out to be deeply misplaced as this was the second most worth candidate for the:

USA 94 Memorial Dullsville Game of the Tournament So Far Award: France 0, Switzerland 0. Yes, just pipping England Paraguay, the Entent Banal (well done Guardian leader writer) saw some of the greatest players of our time, or indeed any time play really badly for 90 minutes. Here's hoping they improve...

The Andy Gray "What a Hit Son" Goal of the Tournament So Far: Torsten Frings, narrowly pipping Rosicky and Lahm.

The Brazil 1970 Goal That We've All Seen a Million Times Team Goal Of The Tournament So Far Award: Torres' goal today - lovely individual skill from Puyol, lovely interplay between him, Fabregas and Torres and a lovely hit.

The "The Ref's Had A Shocker" Award: The geezer what refereed our game against Paraguay - I'm fairly sure it's not narrow parochialism that leads me to pick him. He really did have a shocker.

The Jose Mourinho Memorial Managerial Sartorial Award: Otto Pfister (who of course wins the oo-er missus award too) for his stylish jeans, shirt open to the neck and map of Africa pendant combo.

There's more awards I could give, but perhaps I'll save them for the end of the second batch of games. BATCH! That's it! That's the noun I was looking for.

Germany Poland

2006-06-14T22:17:00.000+01:00

I appear not to be writing "amusing" titles for these posts anymore. In this case that's because I'm not sure I trust myself to not make reference to the war (the BBC were fairly restrained - Lineker with one half sly reference to the irony of their being an invasion of Polish fans into Germany) and Guy Mowbray (I think that's who it was) slipping one reference in, but giving it due reverance and placing it in historical context before quoting Basil Fawlty - a well handled moment I thought, and certainly more tactful than Motty would have been).

The game was another really entertaining affair - me and my esteemed housemate were both puzzled as to why the Poles appeared to be playing for a draw, even before going down to ten men. Germany had looked vunerable defensively before the tournament and their performance against Costa Rica did nothing to change anyone's perceptions on that, but they had looked impressive enough going forward to make anyone in this tournament think twice about trying to hold on for a nil nil against them. In addition to this a draw would have left them with a maximum of 4 points available to them - which Germany would already have and which Ecuador are almost certain to exceed tomorrow, meaning they would have had to hope that Ecuador beat Germany, when they would have no particular incentive to.

Anyway, the German's reversed the day's cliche tally (Spain are perenially poor in big tournaments took a beating today) by ensuring that the notion that Germany always score crucial late goals remains as true today as it is in popular mythology.

All in all though, this game started the second round of games (I'm finding it difficult to know what noun to use by the way - second "round" implies the post-knockout round, but so does the use of "phase" and "stage" - can we just all take it as read that I mean the bit after all the teams have had a go and are all getting a second go?) with similar levels of excitement and verve as the Germans did on day one, lo these 6 days ago...This tournament has been absolutely cracking so far and I'm hoping tomorrow doesn't disappoint. Much as part of me would like to foresake nationalism in favour of poeticism and underdog victory, I just can't quite bring myself to support plucky minnows aganist England.

Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia

2006-06-14T22:04:00.000+01:00

Well, 4 goals meant it was quite fun. But, you know... It was Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia, so it wasn't that exciting. The stat of the tournament so far was unveiled in this game - no, not Al Jaber's 45th goal in his 161st appearance...Radi Jaidi scored the first goal by a Bolton player at a world cup since Nat Lofthouse in 1954...

In hair-news, no mullets as such but the Tunisian captain, Bouzazi, had an impressive Maradona-circa-86ish perm...Not quite the talent to match, but a good effort...

It's better to be lucky than good

2006-06-14T16:03:00.000+01:00

And if you can be both, the rest of the world might be in for a bit of a shock. A stunning first performance out of the blocks from the Spaniards. They undoubtedly had the rub of the green - their first 3 goals came from a fortunate series of deflections from a corner, a freekick which deflected off the wall and a penalty which clearly wasn't - but they also looked very impressive. Excellent and imaginative use of the ball and a drive and commitment which was especially evidenced by their fourth goal - a belter from Torres which featured some really nice build up play from Puyol and Fabregas. They look to have a good deal of strength in depth to, and, as far as one can tell with these things, they also looked to have some considerable team spirit.

Ukraine were unlucky - the goals went against them, they had a man sent off for no reason and everytime they thought they'd beaten the offside trap the linesman took a different view and I think they still stand a pretty good chance of progressing, although I'll be very interested to see how Tunisia fare against them.

It was a veritable feast of mulletdom though a couple for Spain and three or four for the Ukraine - surely 06 will be remembered as one of the great mullet collections ever assembled outside the 80s. Torres even seems to be growing his back - perhaps he remembers how disastrously his form dipped when he shaved it back at Euro 2004...

So, we've seen all the favourites now, and Spain, Italy and Argentina are winning on points so far, but there's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip and there's a long way to go yet...I'm off to make a cuppa before settling in for the tie of the round: Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia...

Yesterday's Second 2 Games (or enfin, qu'est que c'est ca?)

2006-06-14T11:38:00.001+01:00

An actual bona fide rubbish match, at last. Togo vs South Korea wasn't great, but Switzerland vs France was absolutely diabolique. Thierry - a bit rubbish. Zidane - ok, but final ball, rubbish. Ribery - again, a bit rubbish. Unlike England, they didn't manage to sneak a win out of it. I'd say they'll come good, but I'd have said that in 2002 as well, and we all remember what happened there. They looked a bit better when Domineque brought on Louis Saha - their shape improved - but they still didn't look like scoring. Togo and South Korea will have been watching with great interest, as Switzerland looked pretty poor, although Frei had the chance of the match. It was quiet on the hair do front as well, although if memory serves, did one of the Swiss defenders sport a mullet?

The Brazil game, of which I only caught the second half wasn't that great either. The Croatian fans were amazing though, and if someone had explained the Croatian forwards that you should aim your shots either to the left or to the right of the opponents keeper we could well have been talking about an upset. Still, despite Ronaldo's apparent disinterest, and a general inability to get round the well organised Croatian defense, the Brazilians always looked as if they'd win it with some moment of magic. The rest of that group is going to be fascinating though - I don't have a clue who's going to go through in second place...

After an abortive attempt at a show just before the England game (wherein my pc shut down and wouldn't start again) today sees my second attempt. If you're around, tune in between 1300 BST and 1400 BST, for music from all the countries playing today and thoughts and discussion about all today's games, and the tournament so far...

Tog-Oh No!

2006-06-13T16:15:00.000+01:00

Do you see what I did there? What I did was, I took the word "Togo" and changed it a bit to add "Oh No!" at the end in order to signify disappointment or calamity. With their shockingly chaotic build up to the world cup (the coach that saw them through qualification having been sacked, and his replacement having walked out and then walked back in, in jeans I might add...) Togo would have been delighted to go in at half time 1-0 up against a very lacklustre South Korea. Soon after half time, however, it all went a bit wrong, as they got a man sent off, the blonde bemulleted Korean forward scored a with a blinding free kick and Togo somewhat fell apart.

Korea kicked on after that and, with their increasingly vocal support behind them, probably deserved to win the game, but I'd still say the race for second behind les bleus is still on.

Mullets a plenty from the South Koreans - not quite as outlandish as their fellow South East Asians and 2002 co-hosts Japan, but still an impressive range of big hair based styles on show. They will have to play better than they did today if they are going to come close to their 4th place finish last time round though.

Incidentally, this was probably the least exciting game of the tournament so far, but still not quite dull enough to be actually called dull, thanks to the Korean turn around.

Incidentally again, I bet the Ivory Coast are properly gutted that they didn't get Togo's group. African football's image has really suffered from the failure of the bigger (and basically better) sides to qualify for the tournament and the fact that the stronger African teams in this tournament are in the harder groups, and the weaker teams are in the weaker groups. If you swapped Ghana and the Ivory Coast for Togo and Angola I think there would be an excellent chance of seeing an Afriean team progress to the later stages, but as it is it's going to be tricky. Having said that, if the Ivory Coast can get a result against the Dutch (in what I think should be called the Clash of the Oranges) then we still might.

Have I mentioned "Allez Les Bleus!" yet?

Forza!

2006-06-13T09:50:00.000+01:00

Italy 2 - Ghana 0.

First off, I should say that I said "A pearler from Pirlo" out loud, along with Motty, much to the confusion of David at whose house, and on whose big screen, I watched the game. And it was yet another blinder. Ghana look, as everyone thought they would, pretty great in midfield, but the combination of the draw, some fairly shakey defending, and a lack of movement in front of the midfield means I can't see them progressing. I had predicted a draw for this game - the Italians always start slowly, don't you know...But apparently the Azzuri have forgotten that they're supposed to be rubbish in their opening game and played an absolute blinder. It will be a worry to Lippi that they looked a far less impressive team when Totti limped off (and, frankly, for the good of the tournament, let's hope it's nothing serious, because he looked really really impressive) and although they did play a lot more defensively when they went 1-0 ahead they did look as if they seriously wanted the second - whenever they broke it was with significant intent, and they could (and indeed perhaps should) have had more.

Essien went achingly close from distance, but 'big Gianluigi' (as I'm sure they call him [actually, they probably call him 'big bung taking buffon']) wasn't called into action too often. Talking of keepers, the Ghanaian keeper came from that breed of keeper that you don't really get in England - an excellent shot stopper, but VERY dodgy on crosses - he raised a chuckle from the ever-dour Lawro. Who, and I may have mentioned this before, is NOT FUNNY.

Ghana were unlucky not to have a penalty, but if the chap (I forget who it was) had not dived like he was leaping off the side of a yaught and trying to impress a young lady who was enjoying a picnic on the deck, may have got more sympathy from the ref (who was fairly poor by the way.)

Anyway, it was another great game - is it just me, or might this be the most engaging world cup in recent times?

It's my (French) mum's birthday today, so allow me to say Allez Thierry! Allez Zizou! Allez Barthez! (enfin, peut etre pas Barthez. Vous pouvez rester sur votre ligne sil vous plait est ne jouez pas comme "David James".) Althogether now "Alons enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloire et arrive!"

Pokerstars

2006-06-13T09:43:00.000+01:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7858796

Czech it out!

2006-06-12T18:53:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry about that title. There was nothing I could do about it.

An awesome day for mullet watch - after the highs of Japan we had our first be-mulleted goal scorer - and he got two! And they were both blinding! And the second had a mullet assist to go with it!

The US looked very poor - especially going forward, although Eddie Johnson looked to have something about him. The Czechs played brilliantly, but the hamstring injury to Koller could significantly weaken their chances later in the tournament. They certainly rank right up there with the teams I'm looking forward to seeing again, and, even without Koller, they could go a long long way if they keep playing to that level.

Throw some more tofu on the barbie mate!

2006-06-12T15:55:00.000+01:00

Blinkin' heckfire! I was all set, mentally preparing myself to start this post saying something about how the heat and the slightly lower standards of play on show today had lead to the World Cup's first game that could truly be described as dull. But no, the last ten minutes saw Cahill score twice, give away a penalty (well, ok, not actually give one away, but do his very best to) and John Aloisi smack in a cracker.

Mullets were in plentiful supply - Komono, the Japanese number 3 sporting a beautifully coiffed blonde mullet - fluffy and tall and proud. The Japanese will surely take the team award for hair stylishness...and of course politeness, another delightful moment of national stereotyping from the ITV commentators...

Angolola

2006-06-11T23:09:00.000+01:00

Shock horror - another good game! That's a clean sweep so far. After Angola went 1-0 down in the first five minutes I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking it could have been a bit of a wash out they really got it together. They look to have quite a bit about them, and if any team deserves the support of neutrals it's Angola, with their history, the fact that one of their star strikers was orphaned by the civil war, the fact that their goalkeeper has been without a club for a season and was training at a Portuguese second division club and the fact that one of their players lives in a house with no running water.

In their first world cup, after a disappointing African Cup of Nations they performed really well after losing that early goal and had some decent chances to equalise. Their game against Mexico will be very interesting - after today's performance I'd say they definitely have enough to worry Iran, and it will be fascinating to see if they can go one better against Mexico than they did today.

In commentary watch news: I was in the kitchen for much of the first half, so got to hear Jimmy Armfield's co-commentary, the highlight of which was the very early appearance of the "naive defending line" that one of the commentors at Finals Fantasy predicted. It arrived just after the goal, at about 5 minutes. He did stress repeatedly how impressed he was with the Angolans keeping their shape. I think on at least four or five seperate occasions. My Pleatian highlight was his refering to the Angolans as Angolola.

In mullet watch news, no mullets were seens, but the Angolan number 20 boasted an extraordinary do - singled out as Haircut of the Tournament so far by Drury and Pleat (and deservedly so.) Shaved all over except for a short outcrop of dreadlocks, almost like a second set of eyebrows above his actual eyebrows, and resembling the dangly bits you get at the bottom of very fancy curtains, this do will be hard to beat...

The temptation to title this with some kind of religion based pun is almost overwhelming

2006-06-11T18:54:00.000+01:00

I was worried about this one - I was fearful that the tournament's first dull game might have been afoot (well, apart from England Paraguay, but that doesn't count cos England were playing). My doubts were shortlived however as Mexico and Iran played out another cracker. Jonathon Pearce suceeded where so few have, going 90 minutes without patronising Iran, one of the competition's less well established sides and the BBC are MILES ahead of ITV again this year with studio pundits too, although they still look weak in the tricky co-commentating position. Mark Bright is surely the most negative co-commentator in the game today, always very quick to point out mistakes. Pearce, having calmed some of his more flamboyant excesses is, for my money, the natural successor to Motty as the Beeb's lead voice, although his undoubted competence may count against him.

Mexico were much the better side, especially in the second half, but Iran showed that until an awful mix up at the back, first the keeper and then the centre half getting in on the comedy action, they had looked secure at the back, and in the first half they had looked threatening going forward. They seemed far too happy to play for a draw though, a strategy which seems very questionable considering a. how difficult it is and b. that it would mean they'd probably have to get at least a point against Portugal. Once they had let one in they seemed to go somewhat to pieces and though Zinha did really well to create and finish Mexico's third, he was left completley unmarked in the box by the Iranian defense. Mexico looked really solid at the back, rarely troubled, and Marquez had a brilliant game. The scenes of emotion from the Mexican keeper, whose father died on Thursday and who has flown to and from Mexico since then, and his teammates were very moving. This really is a beautiful game.

Mullet Watch Explodes

2006-06-11T15:56:00.000+01:00

God bless Eastern Europe - the last bastion of mulletdom. Phill was right about Group C - Serbia and Montenegro's number 6 boasted the most out and out mullet in the tournament so far, and a few more in the side had the mini-mullet - that little teasing bit of length at the back that, to use a football metaphor, come under the heading of "I've seen them given" (as a mullet, rather than a penalty, obviously).

Mourinho must be loving the group of death - 3 out of the 4 goals scored in that group so far have been scored by Chelski players, and Robben was absolutely outstanding today - a little more unselfishness (should that be a little less selfishness?!) and he would be even better. Holland will no doubt be absolutely delighted with that 3 points - all 4 teams in this group look very solid and I'm looking forward to the next round of fixtures in that group even more than Mexico vs Iran in a hour...

p.s. More good refeering today - as Lineker has just pointed out, great to see a player getting booked for waving an imaginary card around...

Don't Cry For Me Cote D'Ivoire (I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that)

2006-06-11T12:04:00.000+01:00

What a cracking game! Despite watching it in a kind of anti-histamine, not much sleep the night before, hayfever induced haze, I still really enjoyed it. Clearly, this was the first game between teams that you could honestly say were in with a shot of seriously progressing in the tournament, and on this evidence Argentina are going to be a force to be reckoned with. They were clinical in front of goal, creative and frighteningly solid in midfield and their back four were pretty domineering until the last 20 minutes when the Ivory Coast really seemed to get the bit between their teeth and looked really dangerous. It will be very interesting to see how good Holland are, having not actually seen them play since Euro 2004 I have no conception of their ability now, except I hear that Van Basten has them very well organised and together, and has left out some big names in favour of youngsters.

Over at Finals Fantasy there's some funny stuff about Peter Drury's unsuccessful attempts not to be patronising, and David Pleat's (or Pli-at as I am going to start calling him) attempts at foreign names...As well as the Le Tissier incident there was also his pronounciation of Ivory Coast's French coach Henri Michel as Honry Mahshell - either someone has told him that the "ee" sound in French is pronounced "ah" or he was so exhausted from his, credit where it's due, respectable crack at "Henri" that his tongue gave up and reverted to type.

Soca Warriors!

2006-06-10T19:33:00.000+01:00

Well, crikey. That's put a shine on the day. Abba! Bjorn Borg! Online Poker Players! Your boys took a hell of a beating! (well, not beating, obviously, but still...)

What can one say about the game other than it couldn't have turned out better? As well as the instinctive supporting of the fairy tale underdogs 0-0 is of course a tremendous result for England.

A word about Caribbean stereotyping though...I'm sure that the relaxedness about time is well observed, and the flair and colour and enthusiasm and jubilance of the fans is there for all to see, but SOMEONE TELL TYLSEDSLEY TO STOP IT! The worst offence, possibly was to suggest that Leo Beenhacker, who has masterminded a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of Trinidad and Tobagan football, would say "hey, just chill out" as his team talk to a team that had been doing anything but chilling out...

Anyway, ignorant commentating stereotyping aside (and let's face it, it was always likely to crop up) it was an immense performance from the T+T team and Swedes everywhere must be rueing the fact that most of their best chances fell to Allback and not Larrson or Ibrahimovic...

All this means that if England can succeed where Sweden failed they'll be through in two games, which will of course be good for nervous systems the length and breadth of the land...

EDIT - how remiss of me not to mention Wilhelmson's single strand mullet!!!!!

That'll Do

2006-06-10T15:55:00.000+01:00

Well, that was a little worrying at times, but Motty's hystericism (is that a word and if not why not?!) aside, England have got 3 points and the first half was excellent. The substitution taking michael owen off *was* a complete shocker, even if Owen didn't look good, you can't leave crouch as the forward man on his own, and if you do you HAVE to make sure that the midfield can get up to support him. I thought that bringing on Hargreaves for Cole actually made the shape look better, and Lampard made a couple of quite promising runs after that. Downing played ok, and the two runs he made took pressure off the team.

The post match analysis is incredibly negative on the BBC, and it is true that it's a shame the second half was a bit of a let down, but this time 4 years ago the second half had been a let down and Sweden had scored...

Ian Wright has just asked why we don't play high tempo premiership style football throughout the game, and I think that it's a completely straightforward answer - it's incredibly hot out there...You can't underestimate the effect of that, and we've got a HUGE 3 points.

Sven has just made the point that England looked better when Cole came off and I think he's right, but Lineker doesn't seem to agree with me...Bring on the t+t!

EDIT: Oh yeah, and also, what the heck was with that referee?! Very rarely do you see such a one sided set of decisions...

I'm excited so far...

2006-06-10T15:09:00.000+01:00

My pc isn't working properly, so I'm actually writing this 1 minute and 45 seconds into the second half, but up until that Ashley Cole slip at the very end of the half England looked in more or less complete control of the game. The most marked improvement for me compared to previous Sven lead England campaigns is the MUCH more sensible use of the longer ball - they've kept the ball well, which is hugely important, and has bee nthe thing that really let us down. Croucho's been blinding, holding the ball up really well, making some nice runs, playing a couple of nice passes and generally looking comfortable at this level. My post-Hungary and Jamaica feeling has been the Beckham is going to be one of the players of the tournament, and the first half's done nothing to change my view on that - Becks looks bang up for it, and bang in form, and that's going to make things difficult for every team we play against.

Michael Owen looks maybe a litte short of form and cutting edge so far, but early doors etc...The referee's been having a bit of a shocker, not surpising given his shockingly bad hair syle...

Motty's excitement levels are unsurprising - his pre kick off announcement that we should all be careful with our cups and glasses was reminiscent of his 2002 breakfast obsession. Post modern self referentialism or genuine concern for the crockery of the nation? You decide...

Ecuador!!!

2006-06-09T22:34:00.000+01:00

Blimey charlie, that was a blinder!

Ecuador are officially my pick to win that group now...they defended like absolute lions for the 25 minutes when Poland threw everything at them, and I really think they could do well against Germany. Poland actually looked ok, and hit the woodwork twice - I'd expect both teams to beat Costa Rica, so it looks like the games against Germany will be the deciding factor. I wouldn't write the Poles off yet, as I think their style might be difficult for Germany (although Germany really do look like they have a cutting edge upfront, it will be VERY interesting to see how they do against stiffer opposition.

In Mullet Watch news there was a definate proto-mullet from the Ecuadorian number 16 Valencia and a classic eastern european rattail mullet on the Polish number 4. There was a Nedved-esque fringe mullet on show too...

Was it just me, or did Gareth Southgate seem upset with Clive's "gentle" fun poking?

World cup podcasts

2006-06-09T19:05:00.000+01:00

As well as my afformentioned world cup specials, and the other 1300-1400bst shows by other uknova folks during the world cup, I shall also be listening to:

The Baddiel and Skinner podcast
The Guardian Unlimited World Cup podcast

Any recommendations?

2nd Half Thoughts

2006-06-09T18:57:00.000+01:00

Blimey! That was good : )

What a goal from frings - which one was better Laam or Frings? Lehman talked before the tournament about how much movement there was in the balls, and it looks like he was right.

Nothing about the German's second half performance defensively changed my half time thoughts, and though I'm sure I'll regret saying this, at this stage if England meet Germany in the second round I wouldn't mind too much. Michael Owen will rip those centre-halfs to shreds...

Did anyone else notice Khan chuckling at Lehman letting in a second? (apparently so, as the 'lads' in the studio have just talked about it...)

So, 1st game, 6 goals, 2 goals which could be goals of the tournament, what a start! I'm off to stretch my legs and try and get rid of these hiccoughs before the Ecuador game!

Tune into Uknova radio tomorrow at 1300 bst to hear my world cup special show...It's gonna be a cracker!

1st Half of the World Cup

2006-06-09T17:55:00.000+01:00

Excellent stuff so far, although not much for defensive coaches to sing about!

Beautiful goal from Lahm, then Costa Rica hit back with a seriously onside goal which played the two centre halfs like the proverbials...Then the Germans hit back and now it's two-one...

Thoughts so far: Germany are going to REALLY struggle with that defense unless they improve a *lot* and quickly. Rumours of Klinsmann and Ballack falling out look to have been overblown - they're looking fairly chummy on the bench. Costa Rica look woefully inequipped to deal with the game at this level. Mark Lawrenson is woefully inequipped for comedy at this level, and Jonathan Pearce very briefly sounded extrememly Scottish when pronouncing German names...

Catching up on Radio Shows

2006-06-04T14:54:00.000+01:00

Here's the most recent show that David + I did together.

Enjoy!

I'm totally still alive and stuff and junk!

2006-05-31T21:56:00.000+01:00

So, can I take this opportunity to plug mine and David's radio show again? It's every tuesday night between 7pm and 9pm BST on UKNova Radio. It's lot of fun - in fact, there's quite a few fine shows on the station, which is normally most active in the evenings (uk time) although sometimes folks are around in the daytime...

To listen, either click on the link above and then click "listen" or paste this address into your favourite media player...

I'll start putting links to previous shows here too - a few recent ones can be found here, here and here ...

See everyone there!

You can join us in the IRC channel too, which is #uknova on the accessirc network :)

Everybody must read this auction

2006-04-10T14:48:00.000+01:00

Especially the Q&A :-)

Seriously - it's for a very good cause!

Clicky

Well whaddya know?

2006-03-26T06:28:00.000+01:00

I'm Big Slick...

You scored as Big Slick. You are the comrades in arms, best buddies Big Slick - Ace-King. Not prone to rash decisions, you are impeccable, recognize a good opportunity, but won't procede unless the conditions aren't just right and you have gathered all the evidence.

Big Slick

81%

Pocket Kings

63%

The Hammer

56%

Pocket Aces

38%

Pocket Queens

13%

What starting Hold 'Em hand are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

I'm sure some of you knew this already...

2006-03-20T22:56:00.000Z

But Dave's a genius...

Just to keep the posts ticking over

2006-03-15T23:54:00.000Z

In case I do ever become a proper blogger again...

Please do everything you can to watch Planet Earth. It's absolutely amazing...If you aren't in England, bittorrent may well be your friend...

Please give a great big blogosphere welcome to...

2006-03-06T14:07:00.000Z

James and his prodigious collection of cds.

I've seen them. They're real...

Des is forcing me to blog!

2006-03-06T13:30:00.000Z

That's twice now - once with the snowman and now he's tagged me

Four jobs I've had

Barman
Personal Assistant to the Assitant Director of Personnel (Senior Management)
Floorman - Bingo Hall
Behind the Scenes Documentary Maker

Four movies I can watch over and over

Four places I’ve lived

Birmingham
Harare
London
Aberystwyth

Four TV shows I love(d)

Seinfeld
Match of the Day 2
The Muppet Show
The West Wing

Four places I've holidayed

Long Island
Naxos
Macon
Victoria Falls

Four of my favorite dishes

Rice and Dhal
Vegetable Curry
Cheese Toasted Sandwich with Lettuce
Gratin Dauphinois

Four sites I visit daily

Four places I would rather be right now

On a film set directing a movie
Mt Abu, India
On a sunny beach
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be

Four bloggers I'm tagging

I made a Snowman

2006-03-03T10:48:00.000Z

Hello everyone!

I made a snowman

I used to be a blogger

2005-11-29T15:18:00.000Z

And one day, hopefully not in the tooooo distant future, I will be again...

Went to see Mark Thomas and Rob Newman last night - they were excellent, particularly Rob Newman I thought (possibly because I've seen a lot more of Mark Thomas in the past, and sort of new what to expect).

In other news, I watched Spiderman the other night and still find it genuinely scary...There's a marquee in my back garden where the neighbours had a wedding and this is the most interesting thing I've read about Georgie Best.

I'm thoroughly disgruntled with Manchester United, thought the sacking of Keane was shocking and am trying not to care, since clearly it's only football...

Life is good, and my health is improving, which is nice!

Peace ya'll - I'll start posting again properly one day I'm sure!

Fish on the internet

2005-10-22T12:44:00.000+01:00

We've all seen fish screensavers, but here's some actual streaming video of a fish tank...

*contented sigh*

Sometimes I wish I was an Albion Fan

2005-10-18T16:55:00.000+01:00

Just so I could start a fanzine called Jonathan Greening's Beard

Monkey petting a kitten

2005-10-14T17:41:00.000+01:00

What's with all the cute animal pictures round here lately?

Still, this is worth a link in anyone's book, surely...

This sentence really does explain a lot...

2005-10-13T13:33:00.000+01:00

"...so I thought 'why not Crouch?'"

Tactical genius that Sven...

Complete Randomness

2005-10-13T04:31:00.000+01:00

Cor, these lil' fellas are cute aren't they!

Football Sleep Irony

2005-10-12T21:53:00.000+01:00

So, there's been a lot of jokes about sleeping through England matches. This evening I actually did, and by the sounds of it I actually missed a good England performance...Tch, 'oo'd 'ave thunk it...

Good dreams

2005-10-06T19:34:00.000+01:00

So, I'm on the GI Diet at the moment, and have lost over 2 stone, which is a good thing. It means I can't eat chocolate, which is obviously a bad thing, at least in the limited sense. Anyway, I've got a coldy type thing at the moment, which includes a sore throat, so when I woke up from a doze earlier this evening I took a strepsil. I fell alseep again, and the strepsil lasted an hour, and I dreamed I was eating a flake. It was nice.

Via CSOMP

2005-10-06T00:28:00.000+01:00

This be great! Someone keeps stealing my letters...

Sometimes mean people go on and are mean, but I've just had a very nice encounter with someone who made all the letters into a pretty pattern!

Calling all poker playing bloggers

2005-10-05T13:25:00.000+01:00

This is interesting, marketing wise...

Wait a minute...I'm helping them! Doh!

West wing season 7

2005-10-04T00:40:00.000+01:00

It's fantastic! Phew!

Dylan is good.

2005-10-01T01:57:00.000+01:00

So, this post over at Speaking as a Parent is very interesting and articulate on the interesting and articulate subject of Bob Dylan and is well worth a read.

I, on the other hand, just have a couple of things to say about the amazing Martin Scorcese two part documentary, No Direction Home, on Dylan which was aired in Britain earlier this week, and about Bob himself, and I'm a bit worried they might be really pretentious !

To me, calling it a documentary is a bit like calling Phoenix Nights or the Office sitcoms. It's a fair description, but it comes with a set of expectations which won't be met - in the case of those two sitcoms, I mean stuff like laughter tracks, studio sets, wisecracking teenagers etc etc, and in the case of the Scorcese film, a traditional documentary might be expected to "explain" Dylan, or have a plot, or deal with the "meaning" of his more esoteric lyrics, but Scorcese is not a normal documentarian.

What was brilliant about this film was the artistry of it, and the way in which it painted Dylan as a classical tragic hero, driven by the Muses to become the "voice of a generation" by absorbing and channeling Woody Guthrie and coming out the other side of the process as an exponent of probably the finest folk protest music ever written. But then, as is the wont of the Muses, he was driven to a further plateau, one which alienated him from the people who had worshipped him, drove the man himself to rocking in his chair and looking for another Dylan to take his place. There was a moment in the film where Dylan performed Mr Tamborine Man at what was captioned "Topical Song Workshop, Newport Folk Festival" intercut with a promoter who had been a huge fan of Dylan's talking about feeling betrayed by his new direction. The painful irony of seeing someone complaining about the direction of the man producing the finest poetry of the 20th century, set to beautiful music was mirrored in the crazy anger of the young folkies complaining about Like A Rolling Stone (finest poetry of 20th century, beautiful music etc.).

The film ends with the motorcycle accident in '66, which in a classical tragedy would have been the end of Dylan, the Muses finally driving him to death and distraction, but of course Dylan didn't die, and he ended up taking a break from the incesant demands of the Muses, writing John Welsey Harding and Blood on the Tracks, then becoming a Christian and being driven by a different set of impulses.

Until finally, the Muses, who couldn't get him with a motor bike got him to begin a Never Ending Tour, which goes on to this day.

But recently there's been a bit of a shift. First there were the grammies for Time out of Mind, and then there were the Chronicles, which sought to address the mythology that had built up around him, and now films like this, where he's alowed to speak for himself, and you can see he's just a man, driven by an extraordinary talent, trying to live in a world which has rarely understood him...

I did say it might be pretentious! Anyway, I like Dylan, he's incredibly important in the history of popular music and I dug the film a great deal!

We will miss you

2005-09-29T23:44:00.000+01:00

R.I.P. Jerry...sincere and heartfelt thanks...

The Daily Show

2005-09-27T17:24:00.000+01:00

So, I'm not that optimistic that this post will achieve its aims, but I hope I get through to someone somewhere with this.

You may all know all about this already - especially folks not in England, but between Monday and Thursday on Comedy Central in the U.S.A there is a programme called The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and it is absolutely extraordinary. It's political, cultural and social satire of the very highest order, the writing is absolutely extraordinary, and the opening monologue on the first show after Hurricane Katrina was one of the most impressive feats of comedic and political balancing I've ever seen.

The show is always torrented and very well seeded - see here for details. They take 45 mins or so to download and 20 minutes to watch, and I think if you're inclined towards political comedy, fake news, and very interesting interviews (including this one with Ricky Gervais) then make this a part of your world. Right?

Good...

Attention Fraggle Fans

2005-09-22T00:51:00.000+01:00

Check dis!

Avast ye landlubbers

2005-09-19T09:18:00.000+01:00

Arrr, the big day be here at last!

Oi hope you'll all be doing yarr bit!

Arrr!

Radio shows

2005-09-05T16:43:00.000+01:00

Just in case you want them and haven't found them on uknova, perfectly beastly or louder than war, here are mine and dave's latest two radio shows...

Show 9 (Featuring a mystery surprise guest who appeared 2 songs in)
Show 10 (Featuring Bob and James, who may or may not be the same as this guy)

Download it and listen to it and then tell ALL your friends about it and get them to listen between 7pm and 9pm BST every darned Saturday night by going here...apart from maybe this Saturday actually as we might be going to Somerset...

All is well, except my keyboard is broken and I have a sore throat - I'm using my housemate's keyboard whilst he's at work. Actually, not being able to speak properly and having no typing abilities means I'm not really able to communicate with anyone, which is odd, but strangely restful. See you soon ya'll!

I'm back, and I've done a pointless test

2005-08-21T00:37:00.000+01:00

Via Iamdecal (there's a link in my sidebar and I have something else in my clipboard - sorry for my laziness dude :-)

the Prankster
(42% dark, 34% spontaneous, 21% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | LIGHT

Your humor has an intellectual, even conceptual slant to it. You're not
pretentious, but you're not into what some would call 'low humor'
either. You'll laugh at a good dirty joke, but you definitely prefer
something clever to something moist.

You
probably like well-thought-out pranks and/or spoofs and it's highly
likely you've tried one of these things yourself. In a lot of ways,
yours is the most entertaining type of humor because it's smart without
being mean-spirited.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Conan O'Brian - Ashton Kutcher

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 18% on dark
You scored higher than 43% on spontaneous
You scored higher than 18% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

I do like Conan O'Brien, but I'm not mad on young Kushter - this is reasonably accurate apart from the practical joke thing...

Will write about hols and post pics soon - was v. nice!

Off to the land of my Fathers...

2005-08-13T12:19:00.000+01:00

Well, not MY fathers so much as fathers in general. Welsh ones anyway.

I'm going to Wales, that's what I'm trying to say...Going to stay here for a week with Jocelyne, Dave and later with visits from Bob and Phill.

Am planning to visit my former university town of Aberystwyth, Snowdonia, maybe the Brecon Beacons, and the centre for alternative technology at Machynlleth. Also planning to play some board games and a bit of the old Texas Hold 'Em...

Have a nice week all...

Beatboxing harmonica guy

2005-08-03T13:49:00.000+01:00

Check it

via csomp

Not RIP after all

2005-08-02T23:07:00.000+01:00

The ever-mysterious James has resurfaced, and his words are well worth reading...

Also worth noting that the only slightly less mysterious Graham has moved to a new home.Be careful though, it does contain scenes of mild peril...

5th Radioshow

2005-08-01T15:41:00.000+01:00

Get it here - listen live between 6 and 8pm next saturday!

Tornado Town

2005-07-30T01:22:00.000+01:00

So, a tornado hit brum yesterday - just thought I'd post to say that I'm fine, and so are all my family and friends. To be honest I feel a little odd about saying that, since some people aren't fine, and have lost their homes or cars or been injured, but I'm only saying it for info - I am grateful and I send love and good wishes to those who haven't been so lucky.

The house I grew up in (which my mum sold a couple of years ago) has lost most of its roof and front windows, and the car in the drive was flattened, and many of our old neighbours have lost their rooves and windows. Lots of very familiar landmarks to me from childhood are now roofless...EDIT - this is our old house, which now belongs to a friend of pete's.

I've heard a lot of jokes, about how it's birmingham so it'll do a tenners worth of damage, or comments about how it's small potatoes, and I can totally understand the impetus for both of those types of comments, and much worse things happen everyday, but for the people affected it is a very big deal, and they deserve respect...

In other news, we're back on the radio tomorrow night - 7-9 pm - go to radio.uknova.com and if you are listening drop us a line...

Anyway, love and light to all...

The Show

2005-07-23T23:54:00.000+01:00

Here it is!