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Saturday, June 15, 2002 Feeling Minnesota: I don't particularly want to comment on today's game, but not commenting at all would be the chicken way out, so here goes: I can't remember ever watching a game this terrible! Now I don't want to take anything away from the English side, who were very well organized especially in midfield and who appeared to be able to score at will, but the Danes played like shit. Goalie Thomas Sorensen, who'd played brilliantly the first three games, fumbled the ball into his own net after four minutes and from then on the Danes never got back into the game. He probably should have saved Heskey's shot which gave the third goal, but at that point it hardly mattered anyway. Jon Dahl missed a header, which must have created huge cheers in Newcastle, where they'd remember him missing chances like that on a regular basis and Ebbe Sand barely had a shot at goal. And to make matters worse it seem like the English were satisfied with 3-0, so they took it nice and slow in the second half, which made the defeat and our lack of ability to score even more embarrassing. It's not so much losing I mind as much as it is the way they lost. They played a horrible game and were beaten severely and that's a very sad way to leave an otherwise impressive World Cup tournament. So the result of the game put quite a damper on the party I was at, but we still managed to have an enjoyable day and evening, which including a couple of games of croquet and the consummation of a lot of alcohol and a big bowl of chilli con carne. I’m still very depressed about the whole thing and decided to leave the party as the rest of the guests began playing a very complicated drinking game. I have so far refused to watch any of the post-game interviews and haven’t heard anyone comment on the game or seen “highlights” and hopefully I can get through tomorrow without hearing about the game as well. Now all there’s left to do is cheer for Sweden and hope that the English will beat Brazil. - John Fogde 11:43 PM [+] Friday, June 14, 2002 Korea, Korea, Career, Career: Thankfully, sometimes what comes around goes around, which means Portugal follows fellow favourites France and Argentina out of the tournament. Korea's Park scored one of the Cup's best goals and made sure that they went undefeated to the second round. All the best to them in what will surely be an interesting game against Italy. Now it's time to wash the original, vintage Danish 1986 World Cup jersey that my brother nicked from my Dad and I then nicked from my brother, so it'll be nice and clean for good luck tomorrow. - John Fogde 4:35 PM [+] I Think You Suck: Right now I'm watching the Portugal - South Korea game and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that throughout the tournament the Portuguese team has sucked. Big time! I have no special affinity for the American team, but I think it’ll be very unfair if Figo and friends go on to the second round with a 0-0 game, because the Yanks fumble the ball in the end zone against Poland. But then fair and football rarely go together, do they? It’s just so depressing to watch these world class players stink so badly. And I’ll agree with commentator Per Pedersen that the Joao Pinto’s sliding tackle should not only have gotten him a red card, but also a prison sentence. I’m going to a thing called the Potten Festival tonight. I might go tomorrow as well (if it’s any good), but I won’t watch the game there, because of the graduation party I’m going to. I’m not really sure what will happen at the festival, but as far as I know this is an annual event held by a group of people, who share a house not far from here. Apparently, they set up a stage with bands, three bars, a food tent, and a DJ booth and then have a two day party in their backyard. I got invited through my brother and both he and my sister (and their friends) will be there, so it ought to be good. I’ll hook up with a friend later and have dinner and then we’ll go check it out. Thanks to all the people, who’ve commented on the Denmark – England game. Not surprisingly I’m rooting for Denmark, but I’d just like to say that I hope everyone will enjoy the game and hopefully the better team will win. And hopefully whoever wins will go on to beat the living daylights out of those smug Brazilians. - John Fogde 2:51 PM [+] Thursday, June 13, 2002 So I’m Walking Around Your Closet: When I moved into my apartment two weeks ago I was told there would be cable TV already installed for me. So I wasn’t really surprised, when I plugged the TV into the cable outlet and all I got was static, but in this time of World Cup fever the thought of having no TV signal was almost chilling. So I got my old antenna back from my brother (you know the kind you stick on top of your set and then spend hours adjusting to get the best picture), so I at least had the three national channels, which allowed me to watch most of the games. I called the cable company and ordered the full cable package, which I was told would be ready for me in no more than sixteen days, which I found very annoying (especially since the same company was supposed to have my phone ready that day, but had screwed up, so I had to call both them and their cable department from my sister’s). Every day I would check to see if my channels were back on, but all I saw was static until two days ago when it hit me that I might want to try pulling out the antenna cable and actually plugging the TV into the cable outlet again. And obviously now my channels are back and who knows how long they’d been waiting for me to pull them out of the wall and give them life on my 28” screen. Like the NYC cops I ain’t to smart. So now the television is on 24/7 and I’ve been watching a lot of MTV2 the last couple of days. Generally, the music is better than the crud they play on MTV, but let me tell you loud guitars and anger does not necessarily a good rock song make. I could go on for days about bands I hate, but I’ve decided only to make fun of Papa Roach today. Their latest single is called She Loves Me Not and this time the unfortunately named Coby Dick has gone from running and crying (Last Resort) to crying day and night (Broken Home) to reflecting over crying for five years (no less) and realizing that life's not fair and that he’s the jerk. I liked the aggression of Last Resort, but already after seeing the video for the first time I realized how horrific this band is. And with every single they’ve gotten more and more annoying and the main point of frustration seems to be the banalities leaving the quivering lips of front man Dick. Even self proclaimed loser and microphone abuser Fred Durst doesn’t whine and rhyme this poorly. Why people like these guys is beyond me, when there’s a barrage of bands, who sound almost the same, but doesn’t whine nearly as much. But I’ll keep watching MTV2 as long as they keep playing bands like Muse and Rival Schools. I don’t listen to Danish radio much, because they play horrible music, the DJs aren’t funny or smart, and I hate those call-in radio contests. But I had the radio on Monday, because I thought my cable was out. I was listening to their World Cup coverage and heard a couple of new songs I hadn’t heard before. One that’ll probably be a hit this summer is the new Sophie Ellis-Bextor single Get Over You, which I thought sounded suspiciously like Wham Rap! (which might not necessarily be a bad thing). Another is the Vanessa Carlton single A Thousand Miles, which I really like. I know my street and/or indie cred will plummet faster than Enron shares with this admission, but I think it’s a cool song. Very catchy chorus and to me it sounds like the single Sony wished Ben Folds had written. And for once it’s nice to see (and hear) a cute, teenage performer, who seems to be able to do more than show of her midriff. I doubt I’ll by the album, but as singles go I think it’s rather good. I just saw Doogie Howser rapping alongside Snoop on a song from Undercover Brother. Doogie is the whitest guy ever! What a weird concept for a video. And what was Buckethead doing next to Bootsy? It’s all very strange. Yesterday was spent trying to set up the apartment and putting my closet back together. It’s insanely heavy and large, so I had to disassemble it to move it out of the old apartment and then yesterday I had to reassemble it, which wasn’t easy. It’s so big you could live in it (if you were so inclined), so I had to assemble it standing up, because I knew if I assembled it on the floor I wouldn’t be able to lift it up by myself. The first bit was fairly easy, but after you’ve attached the sides and the middle bit to the bottom bit you have to attach the top bit to the sides and middle bit (these are technical terms you may not be familiar with, but try to keep up) and there’s the rub. I managed to screw one of the screws into the middle bit, so the top bit would stay on, but while I reached for more screws something went wrong and the top collapsed and the screw tore through the middle bit. So now there’s a huge crack in the back of my closet, which hopefully will be unnoticeable once I get around to putting all my jumpers in there (I’ll be getting some funny Google referrals because of this segment). After assembling it I realized that it didn’t at all fit, where I wanted it to fit, so I had to move everything else around, which wasn’t easy. Not only are the bed and closet very heavy, but there isn’t a lot of manouvering room, because of all the boxes. But I got it done and the next project is to buy those nails with the plastic hooks on them, so I can get all those phone lines and computer cables away from the floor. The last thing I’ll mention is the four phone calls I made to my ISP today to complain about a bill for more than $300 they’d sent me for some computer equipment. The deal is that when you move sometimes they have to send you a new modem and if you don’t send the old one back in a fortnight then you have to pay for it. But as it turns out they bill you right away and then if you return the modem they cancel the bill, which is what I assume they’ll do now that I’ve sent them their stuff. But I found it very offensive that they assume you won’t return their shit, then bill you without an explanation and then on the off chance you do return it they graciously cancel the bill. And on top of that they had the nerve to charge me $12 for changing my subscription? Service is obviously a thing of the past. A friend of mine just graduated as an architect today (I always wanted to pretend I was an architect) and he invited me to a celebratory brunch before we all watch the Denmark/England game together. I actually had other plans, but gladly changed them to be a part of the graduation party. - John Fogde 10:23 PM [+] Wednesday, June 12, 2002 Happy Nation: England failed to score against Nigeria and Sweden played a pretty good game against Argentina for a draw, which means the Argentinians will have to pack their bags (or purses if you will) and leave the tournament as the second of the teams named among the favourites to win the World Cup. This means we'll meet England in the second round, which seems like a pretty good deal. So far they've only scored two goals and one of those was on a penalty, so unless Michael Owen suddenly finds his form we should be able to beat them. And the motivation should be there as well. Because if we win we'll probably meet Brazil in the quarters and get a chance to revenge the 2-3 loss from 1998, which would be sweet beyond belief. It was fun watching the Swedes give it their all today and I wish them all the best against Senegal, which is a team they should be able to beat even if Ljungberg stays on the injured list. - John Fogde 10:43 AM [+] It Really, Really, Really Could Happen: Not surprisingly most of my day after work has been spent watching highlights from today's amazing game. A very cool slow motion montage of the Danish squad fighting an uphill battle against the immense pressure from the French strikers while Blur's The Universal played in the background has been my favourite so far. The French fans are beyond disappointed and are saying what the Dutch fans said, when their team didn't qualify for the World Cup. They refer to their squad as a VIP-team, where the players are too concerned with being superstars and making commercials. It seems a viable explanation for the dismal effort from both teams, which consist of some of the best and most famous players in Europe. We'll play this Saturday in the second stage either against England, Sweden, or Argentina, which will be decided tomorrow morning. Before the group games I would have chosen Sweden as our preferred opponent, but Celtic’s Henke Larsson is showing incredible form and has so far been the most intimating striker in the group. And the thought of losing to Sweden is just too much to bear, so I think I’d prefer going up against England. But that won’t be an easy match either even if people seem to think Seaman is as likely to fumble the ball into his own net as Butterfingers Barthez. But I personally think he has played well all season and he’s only let in one goal so far, so I don’t think we’ll be that lucky. And with his buddies Cole and Campbell playing in defense our scrawny strikers will have to watch out. And the Brits also have Beckham and Michael Owen, who will probably chose the game against us to peak and play like it was the final. So I’m very anxious about the game tomorrow, which will tell us a lot about their form. It’ll also be very interesting to see the Sweden – Argentina game tomorrow. Argentina seems to have the ability to pull out something amazing when it’s needed. But I won’t mind seeing the Swedes beat them and it would be great to see Ljungberg in top form and maybe even see the Red Marauder score a goal or two. But my guess would be that tomorrow afternoon England will have 7 points and Argentina will have 6, which means we’ll have to stop Batigol and friends if we want to get a rematch against Brazil in the quarterfinal. It is almost too exciting. - John Fogde 12:13 AM [+] Tuesday, June 11, 2002 Unbelievable!!! 2-0 against the French and two of my three bets (Rommedahl as first scorer and 2-0 as the result) will pay of nicely. Now it's off to work with a big smile on my face. - John Fogde 10:25 AM [+] Monday, June 10, 2002 Cartoon Heroes: I've been checking out some of the blogs that I haven't had a chance to follow, while I was off-line. As usual Catchdubs delivers the dope-ass links and this time he led me to The South Park Creator. So here's the closest I could come a self portrait in the style of South Park:  - John Fogde 11:20 PM [+] I Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll All Night: After a long and busy week I’m now back in the blogging game. A lot of stuff has happened, but not so much in the “I’m going to Jamaica to marry Christy Turlington” vain as the “working and getting organized” vain. I’m actually quite enjoying my new job. The people are incredible nice and no one ever checks up on me to see if I’m doing my job. It’s very stress free even when there’s a lot to do. I’ve told them that I want as many shifts as possible, so I’ve been working two or three days a week, which suits me fine. I try to watch as many of the World Cup games as possible, which means I don’t get to sleep as much as I’d like. But hopefully getting up at 7 a.m. can become a habit I can keep, when I have to get started on my thesis. But besides working and moving into my new apartment (and organizing all the annoying things, which goes together with moving) I’ve attended the bachelor party to end all bachelor parties. A good friend of mine is getting married in a couple of weeks, and a bunch of guys arranged a surprise party for him, which lasted almost 24 hours (I’d like to see Jack Bauer party for 24 hours instead of just fighting crime). Bachelor parties have a pretty bad reputation here, because for a while it became a tradition to put the groom-to-be through a series of humiliating events, which usually including tarting him up and parading him through town wearing a sign, which indicated that he was willing to perform sexual favours for change. But thankfully this was a lot more sophisticated, so after throwing my friend a surprise breakfast we’d hired a masseur for him and later we took him to a beauty parlour for men for a facial and both events were highly appreciated. We did a fair share of drinking, while the centre of attention was getting worked on, so spirits were high, when we took him out for a late lunch. After lunch a couple of guys made lame excuses so they could leave and then went out to a park to set up a place for dinner and our party. Our job was to hang out and make sure our friend got a few drinks and didn’t get too suspicious about the further events. After a while we took a cab out of the city and were guided to the spot they’d chosen for the party. We set up a barbeque, a couple of tents, tables and chair, and hung out for a bit. Then we started cooking and as the appetizers were almost ready the bride-to-be and her friends showed up. They’d had a similar day and then joined us for dinner. And from then on the drinking and partying just went nuts and I finally got home at 6:30 the next day. The last bit of the evening is haze, but before I started drinking G&T’s I remember discussing Haute Couture with the guys and defending it as art and being gobsmacked that I was the only one, who thought Christy Turlington was hot (and we couldn’t even reach an agreement on Helena Christensen, and no one seemed to know who Nadja Auermann was, so I was very much alone on my side of the argument). I also discussed Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy with a female Lit-Major, who thought the short stories were brilliant, but besides saying they were interesting from a literary criticism stand point failed to explain, why she liked them. I dislike them, which wasn’t hard for me to explain, and the argument ended with her explaining that it had been a while since she’d read them. But thankfully she cheered up, when she found out that I’d read Less Than Zero and enjoyed James Spader in the movie version. Not surprisingly I was incredible hung over Sunday, so I didn't do much except watch World Cup highlights and the first half of Angel Heart. After work today I had an informal chat with a guy from a local company, which has specialized in jingles for radio and internet. They want to branch out into streaming and I got in touch with them through a mutual friend. We ended up talking for an hour about how they could approach this business area, but because they were still in competition for an order they didn’t have a job for me yet. I suggested they contact my old company, who can help them with the technical stuff, and if they could work out a partnership, then I’d be more that happy to do some freelance work for them. So later this year I might get some much needed freelance work, which I’d very much appreciate, but I'm not going to hold my breath. But the most important thing right now is the game tomorrow against France. The French team has been terrible so far, but if Zidane plays it’ll boost morale and chances are they’ll find their form again. Thankfully, we don’t need a win to qualify for the second round, so as long as they don’t beat us by more than one goal we’ll be alright. But they’ll be a tough opponent and the Danish side didn’t play very convincingly in the 1-1 game against Senegal, so anything can happen. But if we win it’ll be one of the most amazing moments in Danish football history, so it just doesn’t get anymore exciting than this. - John Fogde 10:03 PM [+] |
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Supergrass: Life on Other Planets
Ryan Adams: Demolition
Beck: Sea Change
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