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Behold: Elastic Trickery!

The electrician arrived at the house today to connect our new consumer unit, so finally — two years after moving in, and four months after making-do with just two double sockets and no lighting — we have the electrics configured the way we want them. Hurrah!

I still can’t quite believe that our house had such a poor provision of plug sockets given that it was only built in 1985. Basically, we had a double socket in each room, with a couple extra in the lounge and kitchen. Guess they didn’t use as many gadgets back then!

The installation went quite smoothly despite (or maybe because of) us doing most of the wiring ourselves, so I think it’s a big pat on the back for myself and Paula, and my dad and two brothers for helping out. Cheers guys!

My heart, my heart!

Well done to the Reds for winning the FA Cup on Saturday. It was probably a great match to watch if you were a neutral, but it wasn’t good for my health, that’s for certain! What is it about us and cup finals in recent years? We sure like to make life hard for ourselves. That’s the third final we’ve won after extra time and penalties since 2001.

Credit must go to the Hammers for putting us under pressure and taking advantage of our mistakes, although I don’t agree with those saying that they deserved to win the game. Sure, they were well-organised and certainly caused us problems, but let’s be clear: they profited from an own-goal, a goalkeeping howler and a fluke scored as the result of a mishit cross. Other than that, I don’t remember them having too many efforts on target.

Thank God for Stevie Gerrard, that’s all I can say. The man was immense. His second goal in particular was one of the best I’ve seen him score, and saved us when we looked dead and buried. Alan Hansen was right when he said the best signing we made at the start of the season was getting Gerrard to reject Chelsea’s advances. Let’s just hope he has the same sort of impact in the World Cup.

Just one more thing: I wonder who our fifth penalty taker was going to be?

Getting plastered

We had the plasterer in last Thursday and Friday. He and his assistant did a great job. It’ll take a few days before the walls and ceilings dry-out enough for us to start painting, but it already looks so much better than it did before.

He’s coming back tomorrow morning to finish off some bits upstairs, which unfortunately means an early start for me. Who begins work at eight in the morning, honestly?

Three is the magic number

In the end, victory over Portsmouth wasn’t enough to clinch second for The Reds, thanks to Charlton’s capitulation at Old Trafford. So third place it is then. Definite improvement since last season, and we’re certainly more consistent. If only we hadn’t had that spell at the turn of the year when our strikers couldn’t find the back of the net, we’d have finished above United for sure.

Anyway, there’s still the FA Cup Final to look forward to this weekend. We’ll probably be the favourites against West Ham, which always adds a bit of pressure, but if we play as we can then we shouldn’t have a problem. Alonso’s injury is a bit of a worry though, I just hope it clears-up by Saturday.

And great news to hear that Robbie Fowler’s been offered a one-year contract. He’s certainly earnt it. ‘God’ was probably my favourite Liverpool player of the ’90s; it was a pleasure to see him come through the ranks. He scored some fantastic goals: that thunderbolt past Schmeichel in Cantona’s comeback game; his 20-yarder in the FA Cup semi against Villa where he turned and left Steve Staunton for dead; the fourth goal against Alavés that we all thought would be enough to win the 2001 UEFA Cup (in normal time). Ah, happy days!

Han gets to shoot first (again)

So it seems as though Mr Lucas has had a change of heart, and that we will be getting the original theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies on DVD after all, come September. A response to overwhelming fan demand, or a means of generating cash for George’s next project? You decide. Will I be buying them anyway? You’re damn right I will!

I’m kind of ambivalent about the whole Special Edition thing anyway: there’s stuff I like, and stuff I don’t. Continue reading Han gets to shoot first (again)…

Taking the piss?

Just read on BBC News that Nintendo’s forthcoming games console, formerly known as Revolution, is officially going to be called Wii (pronounced “we”). Incredibly, this isn’t a wind-up.

I still own a couple of Nintendo consoles (N64 and GameCube), and Paula has a GBA, but I doubt I’ll be buying one of these when it’s released. For starters, it looks a bit naff, and the controller is just plain weird. Admittedly, Nintendo are aiming for a different demographic than either Sony or Microsoft, but it’s hard to see this unit appealing to those that have never bought a console before, especially with that name. After all, what kid in their right mind would let mum and dad buy one for the living room? Can you imagine the kind of stick they’d get from their mates?

Ice Age 2: The Letdown

Paula and I went to see Ice Age 2: The Meltdown tonight. I really enjoyed the first film: it had great one-liners and some really funny visual gags, but it was also quite touching. Unfortunately, the sequel is quite a letdown, having a very thin and predictable plot, a weak script and annoying new characters. The Scrat sequences are funny, but there are so many this time around that even they start to wear thin.

Maybe worth going to see if you’ve got sprogs of a suitable age, otherwise wait for the DVD (or avoid altogether if you didn’t even like the original).