The Netherlands v. Russia

The Dutch have been the hottest team of the tournament so far, easily winning all 3 group stages matches in the brutal “Group of Death” (France, Italy, Romania).  Russia secured a place in the Quaters after finishing 2nd in Group D, behind Spain, by handily beating Sweden on Wednesday.

It’s the 41′ and the play has been fairly even.  Each side have had a few scoring chance.  Russia has had the most chances, although some have been long range shots (30-35 yards).

Since starting to type, the Netherlands had an edge-of-the-box chance but the shot was straight at the Russian keeper.  It looks to go into the half drawn at nil-nil.  I see at least two goals during the second half, and hopefully it won’t end in penalty kicks like yesterday’s match Croatia-Turkey match.

6:30 AM PST.

I usually wake up at this early during the weekdays, but not the weekend.  Today is not just any Saturday, it’s the start of the English Premier League!

With the wonder of Fox Soccer Channel I can watch two, 2, TWO, live matches this morning.  The first match is between Manchester City and West Ham.  This isn’t likely to be the highest quality of games as both teams were in the bottom flight last year.  Analysts have predicted that both will probably do much of the same this year and some have even said that West Ham will be relegated.  The Hammers probably will be relegated because the only thing that saved them last year was Carlos Tevez and he went to Manchester United.

The next match is the real one to watch, Liverpool at Aston Villa.  Liverpool finished 2nd in the Champions League and 3rd in the Premiership last season and they should continue with similar, top-flight success.  Aston Villa were hanging out in the lower-to-middle part of the table for most of last season and finished in 11th.  Many analysts are predicting a top-6 finish since Patrik Berger is back and ready to play.  So, I’m really looking forward to this match.

FUTBOL! GOAL!

Things are churning along nicely at work. Let’s just say that Windows Updates are interesting. Oh, Outlook and Daylight Savings Time, DARN YOU!

Music Updates:

Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City - I’m giving the album 3.5 out of 5, so far. The album is growing on me. Highlights: ‘Waiting for the 7:18′, ‘Hunting for Witches’, ‘I Still Remember’

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - I stole this album, just because it hasn’t been officially released. Don’t worry, I’ll be buying the album, DELUXE edition, on March 5. The whole album is great and will definitely make the year-end top 10. The only question is, do I go to the Portland show this May, or do I wait for the second go around in teh fall. Highlights: ‘Black Wave/Bad Vibrations’, ‘Ocean of Noise’, ‘Intervention’, ‘No Cars Go’. 4.5 out of 5 stars

In other Arcade Fire news, they’ll be on NPR this Sunday Night and SNL 2/24

Still waiting on the new Radiohead, Modest Mouse (with Johnny Marr of THE SMITHS) and Wilco albums.

I definitely have found my TV show sweet shop:

Monday: Heroes, Studio 60
Tuesday: Gilmore Girls
Wednesday: Nothing Good I know of
Thursday: Scrubs, 30Rock
Friday: Monk, Numb3rs, Real Time w/Bill Maher — starts up again this Friday
Saturday: Not consistently SNL, except for 2/24
Sunday: Extras, Rome

The Daily Show is on now. Time to get my satire on/embolden some terrorists OR NOT!

This week has been very busy and now the sleeping-in begins. We finally got Qwest (#@$%^&ers) to come and hook up our T1 line, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut our T1 line still doesn’t work. Hmmmmmm. Sounds like Qwest still has more work to do, more than a month after the scheduled delivery date.

Onto more fun stuff. The week was topped off by leaving early on Friday. It was nice to catch-up on my favorite comedies: 30 Rock and Scrubs and jam out to the Flaming Lips and CYHSY. (Music selections inspired by this blog post) I also got a PS2 slim from eBay, madden 07 and a memory card. The plan is play madden online with a friend from Iowa. This is two years after I sold my original Ps2 to buy a dvd player, since I never played games. Even though I’m usually quite tired after work, I’m still less busy and stressed-out compared to school. So, I’ve been working on my console Football skillz and have chosen the Bengals as my team. Once my game gets up to snuff, I’ll be ready to take on all comers.

Keep your ears open this spring:

4 albums are either out or coming out that will keep indie-rockers quite busy. 1. Radiohead 2. Arcade Fire 3. Bloc Party 4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah . I’ve seen all of these bands live and have rated them based upon lived performances and album quality. We’ll see if the order shakes after their albums come out in the coming few months. Also, Radiohead fans should look for the Live at Bonnaroo DVD that Thom Yorke promised this fall. I was at that performance and it was the best musical experience I’ve ever had, EVAR!

NetFlix: With the full time job I’ve also got to consistently watch my NetFlix rentals. I’ve hitting up the standup comedy section lately. I recommend Louie C.K., Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifiniakis and the rest of the Comedians of Comedy gang.