The Internet: a wonderful tool for finding out about bands I would never have heard of otherwise, especially as I do not own a digital radio, and the normal radio stations play either a) music I don't like, b) music I quite liked to begin with (but still not much above average) but rapidly got bored with because the same songs are played five or six times in a day, or c) both of the above.

...and on that note, Wolf Parade's Apologies To The Queen Mary is a fucking brilliant album...

Further evidence that too many people are obsessed with the details of the private lives of others, for no reason other than that those they are interested are well known.

Why? Just... why?

To sleep, perchance to dream. 'Tis more real than reality itself.

As I continue to take advantage of this short spell with an Internet connection to catch up on some of the webcomics I've missed since December, I can't help wondering if Adrian Ramos is making an Orwellian reference with this strip.

Toilet humour: crude, yet still highly entertaining.

Normally I'm sceptical about any film which is based on a science fiction novel, as they are often used as a pretext for special effects and overblown action. Despite my reservations on this subject, I went to see A Scanner Darkly last night. I was more confident than I have been about other films, primarily due to the original novel being fairly toned down. Still, I wasn't expecting too much.

I was very pleasantly surprised. While not quite at the level of the novel, it was pretty well done and had I never come across the storyline before then I would have considered it to be a superb film. The script remained true to Phillip Dick's original vision, and the visuals were excellently presented.

A few thoughts:

-Jerry Fabin's character was moved into Charles Freck, while some aspects of Freck appeared to have merged with Ernie Luckman.
-The ending of the film seemed a little more rushed than in the novel.
-I'm pretty sure "Fred" (Arctor) should have been wearing his scramble suit when talking to the psychologists.
-The performance of Robert Downey Jr (I think?) as Jim Barris was almost exactly how I had imagined the character to be.
- Being able to see who Hank was at the end was a nice touch. The novel left it open to suggestion.

All in all, highly recommended - regardless of whether you have read the novel or not.

There's always something slightly depressing about seeing everything you own reduced to a pile of cardboard boxes.

Staying at my parents house while I'm waiting for the landlord to complete the structural repairs to the flat I'm moving into.  Excluding my parent's house (I'm only staying here for three weeks or so), it'll be my seventh residence in four years, and my fourth in the last two. "Stability" is not a concept I am familiar with at present.

Weekend... someone's birthday celebration.

Weekend... someone's birthday celebration.

Next weekend... someone's birthday. The possibility of a celebration has been mooted but is not necessarily confirmed. Still, they say things come in threes.

(I might change my name to "They". Has to be better than "Simon says")

I'm wondering if that sound emanating from my liver is squeals of joy or screams of terror...

Four games. Three wins, one draw (against a team who we haven't beaten in over forty years, after we had already secured qualification, to a last minute cock-up at a set piece). Six goals for, two against (both in the aforementioned draw, which means three clean sheets).

Into the quarter-finals for the third tournament in a row (including Euro '04). For the second successive World Cup, we are essentially amongst the top eight sides in the world.

Why the doom and gloom? Nobody should expect to win the tournament. It's a cup competition. You will get shock results. England are not the best team in the world on paper, no matter what the tabloids would have you believe.

Can we win it? Sure. But once you're in the quarter-finals, any one of the eight teams there usually have the ability to win it. I'm just happy to still be in what is proving to be a fantastic tournament...

The good:

The World Cup starts tomorrow, and England have one of their best teams in recent memory, even without Wayne Rooney should he not be fit. Now there are only two things to hope for, namely good luck and practise at penalty shoot-outs.

The bad:

There are far too many people trying to cash in on this. Notably in terms of football songs. There have only ever been two good England songs for major tournaments: New Order's World In Motion, which is just a great song, and Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds with Three Lions, because it echoed how fans felt back in 1996.

The ugly:

The pressure being heaped on England by the media. We are one of the teams which could win it, but if we don't, the media will crucify both the manager and the team.  There are around eight or nine teams which could win it. The quarters is a realistic target, but in a cup competition, the best teams don't necessarily win. You need luck and you need to be on form on the day - just look at Japorea '02 to see that.


And with the British Grand Prix along with England vs. Paraguay, I'm looking forward to a great weekend of sport...

The only person who knows whether Michael Schumacher deliberately sabotaged the qualifying session on Friday is Michael himself. The rest of us can only judge from the outside, and you'd have to say that given his past record, it was suspicious as hell - an opinion reinforced by his behaviour in the press conference afterwards.

I need a drink...

...did I mention that I went to see the Flaming Lips play live a month ago?

'Twas indeed a most joyous occasion, from the "Wayne Coyne in giant inflatable ball" at the beginning right through to the very end of the show. I only have one complaint, and that is that I felt they should have finished the set proper with War Pigs and done Do You Realize? as an encore, rather than the other way round. As it was, the constant background images of the current U.S. administration to War Pigs left me feeling slightly angry, whereas Do You Realize? is quite possibly the most uplifting song I have ever heard. It's like musical crack.

Finally upgraded the version of Championship Manager I'm playing. I was using 99/00, now I've moved up to 03/04. Of course, my computer is too sodding old to play the latest version, so this is as far as I can go for now.

Still, not bad for a game picked up for 99p when MVC went into administration...

England's World Cup squad has two uncapped teenagers. One - Aaron Lennon - isn't really a surprise, as he's had a blinding season for Tottenham whilst the player he is replacing - Shaun Wright-Phillips - has spent the year warming the Chelsea bench.

The other is Theo Walcott, who has not started a game since joining Arsenal, and has never started a game at a higher level than the Championship.

Could go either way, really. It's certain that very few people outside this country have ever seen him play. Eriksson has taken a major gamble (especially with Wayne Rooney injured) - let's hope it works.

The good... permanent job, nice working hours (from my perspective), good pay.

The bad... well, let's just say I'm hoping that there is a little more work as my training progresses.

I shall no longer be stopping at service stations on the temping motorway. At last, I can be paid for holidays, bank holidays and should I be off sick (unlikely, having taken a grand total of two days sick in the past five years, at all jobs). I turn off onto the slip road of permanence (pending passing the probationary period).

Oh, and the shifts are from 2:00 to 10:30pm. Given my predilection for nocturnalism, it actually suits me.

Wi-fi hotspots in Britain usually require an exorbitant fee to sign up to. Imagine my joy when I find one that is free, and in a rather nice coffee shop, to boot.

In fact, there's only one drawback. It's only open from 9-4.30, Monday to Friday... so I can only go there when I'm not actually working. Bugger.