Turn Over!

Hey, you should all tune in to Jamjarsuperstar - i.e. my other blog - for musical coverage and reviews of Glastonbury, among other things. Don't miss my quote of the festival which at the time I found pretty funny indeed but now perhaps it has lost its charm. You decide. Oh, and there's lots of coverage of, among others, Amy Winehouse, Jay-Z, The Wombats, Editors, The Raconteurs.... and lots more!

Mini-Coverage: The Final

Who else thought that the final of Euro 2008 was particularly dull? Yes, it had some highlights (er, which I can't think of right now...) but on the whole it was pretty, well, boring wasn't it? Perhaps the most exciting parts were the goal, scored by Fernando Torres after 33 minutes, and Michael Ballack's eye injury.

Spain dominated just about the whole match and while Germany were not without their chances, after a while you just couldn't see them doing much damage. Despite the fact that Germany have had goals in their artillery throughout the tournament, they only came close to scoring once or twice and very rarely showed any really flair. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that they so clearly celebrated and performed their lap of honour in the semi-finals....

Still, congratulations to Spain are champions for the first time in over forty years!

Hungry For More

A lot of you will read this and think "Oh God, she's gone downhill" but recently I've felt more than willing to watch "Come Dine With Me" on Thursday nights. Yes, yes! I know! My standards have slipped entirely!

For those of you who don't know, this is what it's all about:

Take 4 perfect strangers living in the same town/city and ask each of them to prepare a dinner party for the other 3 people. Over 4 nights, the 3 guests rank the night according to food and entertainment. Of course it rarely comes down to food and entertainment because when there's a big sum of money to be won, the contest often has very low scores on account of everyone is trying to make sure that they win, whether their night is the best or not.

As a result, at least one guest will be incredibly picky and make an excuse of anything. Take last week when a middle-aged woman went to everyone's house, thinking that her party on the first night was the best. She gave the other three guests low scores because "the pork was a little dry" or "there was too much cinnamon in the pudding". She came last, so it could be said that she got her comeuppance.

Still, it's pretty addictive, much like a nice chocolate pudding. There's always one person who has a massive house and at least one guest or host acts like a total fool in front of the other (like Bath's town crier, for example). It can be funny. Maybe I'm just sad.

Am I Really That Threatening?

You've probably already gathered that I tend to use the bus to get around and try not to use the car too much (it's my eco-conscience). Since I don't get on the bus with anyone else - generally - I tend to put my i-Pod on and take in some of the sights on the way to wherever I'm going.

Buses are becoming a bit of a meeting-zone for the elderly and young mothers with their screaming kids, most of whom are little whining boys, who seem to always know someone else on the bus. And then there are just other people who are like me and don't know anyone else so they hide away until their stop comes.

It seems like wherever I go, no-one wants to sit next to me. People would rather stand than sit next to me on the bus. Even the bus drivers give me funny looks sometimes. I'm at a loss as to why people find me so scary. Is it the way I dress (which isn't really that threatening at all - are coloured tights and brogues a put-off?) or the fact that I do just sit there and listen to my music (as Babooshka nicely put it, tunes such as Arcade Fire tend to fend off the scary people so it can't be a bad thing)? Please, someone else has to have this semi-dilemma. I'm not really that bothered that no-one sits next to me, my problem is in the fact that they seem to have an aversion to me, like I'm a bad rash. Or perhaps the bus just isn't my type of place. No-one cool or vaguely like me gets on.

Still, it's better than having a swearing chav sit beside me blasting rubbish rave.

Mini-Coverage: Semi-Final Time

Ooh, Spain are through to the semi-finals after beating Italy last night on penalties - woo! There are a lot of people out there who think that the Spanish are all style and no substance and yeah, the team they had out last night probably proved that point. What the heck was Aragones thinking when he put Fabregas and Guiza on instead of putting Xabi Alonso on and leaving Fernando Torres on the field of play? This was a baffling decision, although they still won which is all the really matters... The Italians had a good go of it in extra time although they never really looked like threatening.

Thank you 5 Live for making the match hilarious as well - your descriptions of "sweaty Vienna", "long straggly hair" and "long legs" alongside describing Italian coach Donadoni as "hip" and "cool", with absolutely no sarcasm, made my night (er, aside from the result). And they say there's no homo-eroticism in football... Special mention to Italian midfielder De Rossi as well, whose massive oversized shorts were described lovingly by a friend as being like "bed-linen". Surely these baggy clown shorts are what caused him to miss his pen.

Also through are Russia, who beat the Netherlands in extra time. There isn't really much to say about this match except for the fact that when Dmitri Torbinski scored, he was well and truly crushed under his Russian team-mates. When he got up, he was invisible from the side. Seriously, he looked in real pain underneath the pile of bodies. This game wasn't as exciting as it had been anticipated although you wouldn't know it from Clive Tyldesley's screaming, especially when Wesley Sneijder had a go on goal. Germany will appear in the first semi-final against Turkey, although I can't really say much about the Germans because, quite simply, I haven't seen them play. However, Turkey are making a claim to be this tournament's Greece after their exhilirating game against Croatia (and this definitely isn't a hyperbolic statement!). Who would've thought that they would come from behind to win the game 3-1 on penalties? It really was gripping and even though they're going to come up against stiff opposition in Germany on Wednesday, I think they could go all the way.

Scary.... Very Scary

Okay so yesterday I read something very creepy indeed: apparently it has been scientifically proven that bad boys really do appeal to women and are more successful when trying to attract people. This is for three reasons - this is the creepy, terrible part.

1.) Deceit
2.) Narcissism
3.) The impulsive nature of the psychopath

What!? The impulsive nature of the psychopath!? I don't know about anyone else but I certainly wouldn't be attracted to anyone who has any qualities of the psychopath. And who on earth would want to date a guy who was good at deceiving people? Surely this is just a recipe for disaster. Personally I wonder why some of these scientific studies are being carried out - I didn't want to know this!

Inappropriate

So you probably know that I've been away on business for the past few days and while I was away I saw the most shocking thing!

The parents of this particular boy should be ashamed: said boy was wearing a t-shirt. Okay, you might think "what's your problem" but wait! There's an arrow pointing upwards saying "the man". Then there's an arrow pointing downwards saying "the legend"! What were they thinking?! This is highly inappropriate given that this boy was only around nine and probably didn't have a clue what it meant. Surely this is giving off the wrong kind of signal? Shame on you!