My Little World10

yes, a raccoon - voiced by bruce willis

i found 'over the hedge' rather good, despite being a kids movie and offering no intellectual challenge or mature storyline (pah - who needs such things), i do like the odd kids movie, they tend to be the best stuff to watch on long haul flights and if theyre decent then theyre usually pretty good (hence why they're decent i guess)

it had some good lines - i particularly enjoyed the one about suv's (what does that even stand for - special utility vehicle or summat??) - "how many people does that carry? usually...uh..one" - you had to be there i guess lol

and there were several other amusing points that i now forget, i dont care much for the moral of the story about family and the truth and such but youve gotta have that stuff in a kids flick i guess, i just enjoy the cheap humour

this leads me onto my main point - do i (or anyone else) like a film because im predisposed to want to like it, i knew it had bruce willis and william shatner in it - i like bruce willis, mainly because of die hard and from his interviews he seems pretty cool, so have i gone into that film saying "this is going to be good" and therefore i came out saying "that was good"???

for example, say i hated bruce willis, or mike myers (for shrek) - would i be going in saying its shit because i dislike them, and then coming out hating it? likewise for reviews - if im told its shite will i think its shite or if im told its good vice versa - id like to think im not a sheep and can make my mind up - i like going to films where i dont have a clue beforehand (such as the hills have eyes - i didnt have a clue about that and i came out loving it)

im confused - i should seek opinions 

ive noticed a few things about the past - the 90's mainly, and it seemed very grey and rainy, constantly

everybody had crappy haircuts, bad teeth, grey raincoats and looked less cheerful than the cast of eastenders on one of their "lets shoot someone" days - is this what i remember of the 90's

as i grew up in the 90s my own personal view is slightly distorted by childish views and a lack of information but from the tv footage i saw it looked very bleak

it was actually the footage of the dublin riots (in 94 i think) and granted it was a lot of drunk football fans, the world looked very different from our high tech politically correct society - the stadium looked like a wooden shack, everything was grey and everyone wore those grey puffer jackets

im shite at arguing, but my point stands, i just need someone to argue it with.. 

we're not gonna win are we? ill be happy with semis to be honest

so we now have our 8 quarter finalists - the 6 world cup winners are through, and then there's portugal and ukraine, so from having an african and oceanian side we now have 6 europeans and brazil and the argies, all too familiar

brazil game - they still dont look great, they pretty much cruised past ghana but ghana seemed quite dominant, although very poor in defence and a better side couldve challenged brazil - but theyre doing the job and are in the last 8, and looking better as they progress - germany v brazil final again?? 

france looked good at last, 3-1 was rather flattering but they did score some decent goals, couldve gone either way really, and i was predicting spain but once again they cocked up, maybe france could beat brazil and make the final more interesting - then hopefully we beat france...(pleaseeeee!!)

one point - i didnt like henry being elbowed in the chest and then going to ground holding his face, he's a good player and there was no need for that and it ruins the game, also i think they scored off that so a bit of a hollow goal for me

somebodys going to be getting an extra star 

well ronaldo just walked past ghana - best goalscorer ever now, it had been wishful thinking to believe in ghana, but oh well, maybe spain will beat them

was just playing fifa 2004 and by that brazil should win 2-0 and england should beat portugal 5-1, i also realised how shit a game it was, as its 2/3 years old im not gonna assume pro-evo is better but the menus are crap, the play is very slow and unrealistic and it has no spirit, i can see why people prefer pro-evo, maybe the more recent ones are better

im not as depressed as yesterday, i was curled up all day and moping, im all lonely and bored..shut up

so im going to review a simpsons episode i saw, seems channel 4 have bought a new series (by new it could be years old but ive never seen it as neither bbc or channel 4 ever fork out for the new ones) - i can tell its fairly newer, aside from the fact that i hadnt seen it it was better drawn and had more modern references

it was the one with nsync and joining the navy, the whole thing sounds regular - homer runs a marathon which leads into bart joining a boyband, the usual completely random chain of events - but something felt very wrong

it seemed forced, it felt like the life had been sucked out of it...i can't quite describe what was wrong with it, it made me laugh, whether it will on a second.third/fourth viewing is another issue but i can't describe what was missing - a soul perhaps

the jokes were funny, the mocking of nsync was funny, maybe the jokes weren't quite clever enough, a bit too shallow perhaps and i thought lisa having to play the song backwards to work out it said "join the navy" was a tad dumb, as it had subtitles which clearly said "join the navy" backwards, lisa's sposed to be more intelligent than that

there was just a feeling of emptiness which i got...it's bizarre i know but it just felt wrong 

well, as switzerland and ukraine sap the life out of 40000 fans in cologne and head for penalties im gonna write a blog as im all lethargic and depressed

italy sneak through, a pity, i was of course biased towards the ozzies and the italians played better on the day but a fair result wouldve been a draw and penalties, not a dodgy penalty in the 93rd minute

that penalty pretty much sums up why ive always hated the italians, they might have a bit of skill but they also practically invented diving and that was never a penalty - you could see all the i-ties congratulating del piero or whoever it was as he lay grinning on the ground - it's a bloody joke

i appreciate that the ozzies werent playing great but im biased and had that been england god forbid i would be fuming and penalties wouldve been fair i think...thats my two pence anyway

as for this little showdown, very few chances and as alan shearer pointed out there's been no offsides which is a pretty clear indication of boring play - i wouldnt go as far as the commentators by saying it's killing the game, it's one game out of 64 and most have been pretty good

both ukraine and switz are defensive sides, i expected ukraine to win because theyve got more up front, but they havent been able to break the swiss wall and therefore very dull - italy are defensive too so thats not gonna be much of a quarter-final, altho the i-ties have more skill than these two, but based on the ozzies they may get frustrated and held, especially if the swiss go through

think ill go watch paint dry... 

ah, the sweet smell of victory...

ok, so 1-0 isn't that impressive but it gets the job done and ecuador were pretty much neutralised by our midfield so not bad not bad, and we're definitely getting better, and we kept a clean sheet

so, time to rate the players i think

Robinson: thought he was properly injured for a minute but he was ok, had a good performance, a few mistakes early on but pretty good overall, although not tested really - 7

Terry: got booked, but got better from there and did some good work - 6

Rio: Finally come good, some brilliant clearances and looked really impressive - 7.5 (nearly gave a goal early on)

Hargreaves: I'm gonna be honest, ive only ever disliked him because the media told me to, he played well and i think now the media and fans will lay off him - 7

A. Cole: Great as always, really keeps that left side closed and he blocked ecuadors best chance, good lad - 8

Beckham: as he scored you can't really fault him, wasn't his greatest performance, he seemed ill and he was getting back and clearing well - 7.5 

Lennon: i love this kid, great pace and is a really good option for that right wing pity he only played 5 mins, and a pity he can't find a permanent place in the starting squad, im sure he will in a few years - 7

Carrick: beautiful play, did the job he went out to do and successfully held the ball up and got it forward through to lamps and stevie, i can't fault him at all - 8

Lamps: bit of a bad day for frank, he shouldve scored at least one and he didn't seem to be on top form, probably our weakest link - hopefully it was just the heat - 6

Stevie G: good play as always, not as great as usual and he fluffed a few balls but not a bad performance, could definitely play better though, again i'll put it down to the heat - 7

J. Cole: one of his bad days, you could see flashes of brilliance but he kept wasting the ball, maybe he was a bit cocky, maybe he was suffering, who knows - 6

Wazza: some great play, looked 100% fit and was consistent the whole game, great til the end and played some great balls, set up several chances, one frank shouldve finished btw - as good as he was i still think he needs someone up there with him, if frank and stevie can finish his plays then fine but i think a second striker may be useful - 8

so what now? we played quite a defensive, patient game and were pretty strong, i think our lack of attacking moves could be a weakness against a much stronger side like holland or portugal, we can't always rely on set pieces but it worked today - carrick i think earned his place on the first team, and so did hargreaves, shame we cant have a 13 man team really

ill be back later with news of holland/portugal  

###back

well that was a game wasn't it? certainly for the ref

i wouldnt even say it was a dirty match, just chaotic, the ref lost control and started by giving yellows for minor offences then the players took advantage

the dutch are a very dodgy side and i think deserved to lose for their diving, which the portuguese soon started doing themselves, i thought portugal would win and they did and we have an advantage in the loss of deco and possibly ronaldo

figo should also be missing our match, so hopefully fate will intervene somehow, unfortunately the fact that the ref gave him a yellow protects him, if he had got nothing he probably wouldve been suspended by fifa

so not a pleasant match, probably the worst of the whole tournament but it may play to our advantage and now we have to finally beat scolari - which we will!!! 3rd time lucky and all that 

me again...im posting a hell of a lot these days, but i love the world cup so why not

so germany and the argies go through as expected

germany pissed all over sweden, altho the swedish keeper did brilliantly to deny germany so many times, a fairly easy romp for the germans but they face the argies next and that will be a very intersting game (presuming england remain and i am still watching it)

as for argentina - by the skin of your teeth you dirty diving hairy little buggers, these guys are/were the current favourites and they came this (very small amount) close to going out, fair play to mexico who played a blinder (note: just had a look at the odds and the argies are still a fraction ahead of brazil, and somehow we are now 5th - behind italy?? woopdedoo, i figure neither side has a chance in reality)

so mexico played better, probably, and there were some dodgy decisions, nothing on graham poll level but heinze shouldve been sent off early for his tackle as he was the last man, (one of these days im going to understand this last man rule - surely the last man has a right to go for the ball) - and as the rules go he shouldve been sent off, therefore mexico probably wudve won - so be very thankful, i think im actually gonna support germany for the next game

im having a foreboding about tomorrow, lets just hope we win, im remembering 2002 when we won 3-0 in the last 16, then the quarters may be a bit tricky - portugal or netherlands?? i dunno who wud be easier, i think it's time for revenge on portugal for that cheating in euro 2004 

oh and in a violent, drink fuelled strain - that was blatantly the german fans starting it, i admit both sides were completely pissed by the look of it but for some reason our fans get arrested - i guess there were less english ppl to arrest, anyway, it shouldnt blight our improving rep as we didnt actually start that one (now here's a warning to what will happen if we lose tomorrow - that, times about 267)

yes yes the referee is, if you're english you'll know the chant well, meanwhile im here to moan about 2 things: referees and the french

firstly referees, i have decided that the game is far too focused on the ref, he (or possibly she) is there to ensure fair play and the following of rules and it really gets on my nerves when players get booked for things like dissent or even worse - celebration

i appreciate that refs require some degree of protection from disgruntled players so fair enough and therefore thats more of a problem with the game and the players, and partly the fault of dodgy decisions

ok, watching the germany game and lucic just got sent off for a tiny little shirt pull which frings has decided to stop running and moan about it, making lucic get a second yellow - this is my grievance, players basically abusing the referee's position to manipulate the game, in short in unsportsmanlike and it's not what the game is about

this is a hard argument for me to put across because rules against diving and dissent are there to protect the ref and ensure a fair game, (although the fact is that diving is almost always present in most fouls) - however i think some refs take it too personally, it's not their game they should just be getting on with it

diving for instance, it's basically an appeal to the ref to get a free kick - and it works both ways, sometimes they get pulled up for the dive and sometimes it works, as i said most fouls involve a degree of diving to exagerrate the tackle - this should not be so - so therefore i dont think it is the ref per se that is at fault, unless they suck, but the way the game has changed and how players abuse it

in short - do we need video refs?? 

 on to a short frog bashing - yes they scraped through by the skin of their teeth, i wouldve preferred to see them go out but they will lose to spain on monday/tuesday whenever it is and the swiss have a better chance of going through with ukraine - which i think will provide a better game

and can i just point out - out of the 6 former champions the only team not to top their group was the frogs, but thanks to portugal the board is pretty even as there as 4 seeds on both sides of the last 16 (although portugal are better than mexico anyway) 

well, my first year of uni is over, still not officially but i don't know what im meant to be doing in june anyway

ive left my flat and my old flatmates for good now i guess, an end of an era for me i guess so now i guess im excited about my new house and i just said "i guess" a record breaking amount of times in one sentence

i was going to write lots about the past year yesterday but now i forget it all and that's all i can remember

oh and theyve added little shadows to the numbers in deal or no deal - why do they keep making tiny little changes to everything?

on with the boring football...(otherwise known as group H) 

well well, out go the usa as predicted and so do the czechs

the czechs lost to ghana and wouldve had to have beat italy so that match couldve gone either way, usa were pretty much out anyway, and ghana deserved to win

so ghana will probably get brazil, unless they are defeated by japan and oz thump croatia, but lets face it brazil will win and all eyes will be on croatia vs oz 

i havent mentioned yesterdays games, argentina and holland ended goaless and therefore holland land on our side of the board, neither of them looked impressive against a good side so maybe there's hope yet

alongside holland are portugal, those cheeky buggers who unfairly knocked us out of euro 2004, so if we beat ecuador well be getting one of them

meanwhile argentina should breeze past mexico and face germany, and hopefully italy will get australia, (or rather brazil but thats wishful thinking) 

so 10 teams decided, group f and g are pretty crucial, only one real upset so far - czechs, beaten by a worthy ghana, i hope they destroy brazil...

by the way, no that wasnt a penalty (ghana vs usa) but as they wudve drawn without it usa still wouldve gone out and exactly the same wouldve happened...so there

####me again###

im being lazy and summarising

brazil won, ronaldo finally scored, very scary...if we get to the semis we're dead i reckon

as for australia..wooooo...they won (or rather drawed)

it was actually 3-2 in my book, oz had 2 blatant penalties denied (and yet got given a more questionable one) and kewells goal was offside

and croatia had a bloke with 3 yellow cards, only graham poll could forget to send him off...ah well oz are through, bring on the I-ties!