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After last night’s disapointment on the football field regular readers will be pleased to hear the ITV is bringing back Popstars to make our lives better. This time, according to Digital Spy, the show will look to create the UK’s next musical male-female duet. To make it even more depressing the same source also reports that ITV are planning an ITV3 – presumably so we can have Popstarts on ITV1; Popstarts Xtra on ITV2 and an additional behind-the-scenes-of-the-behind-the-scenes show on ITV3.

While I was redaing the excellent Digital Spy I had cause to update the Man of the Moment entry for Colin and Matt.

What an entirely nail biting match that was and how very, very depressing. I imagine most of the country was watching as Michael Owen scored for us in two and a half minutes. I made the tube and the train which were – I am certain – much quieter than they normally would be at 7pm. I just made it into the house just in time for the start and for Owen’s goal and was watching all way through to Helder Postiga’s equaliser after 83 minutes for Portugal. So everything went to extra time and we all had to watch for another 30 minutes. Thank goodness for Frank Lampard who kept us in it at the end of the second half of extra-time but who on earth would want to sit and watch those penalties? [match summary]

Despite the result, it’s games like this that make me enjoy the game of football!

Well I guess that there’s not a lot to say. There is only one topic of conversation in London today and it all revolves around the football.

There have been football songs on the radio all day (it’s simply the worst music you can listen to) and there is an excitement outside. Everywhere you go there are English flags which is really quite pleasing to see. Now, all we have to do is win!

Thousands of England fans are gathering in Lisbon ahead of tonight’s crunch Euro 2004 quarter-final against hosts Portugal. [Sky News]

The only other thing of interest I can come up with is that, apparently, “Simon Le Bon himself has heaped praise on boyband Phixx’s cover version of the 1984 Duran Duran smash hit Wild Boys” [source]. And even I don’t think that’s interesting.

So I’ll leave it at that and go and watch the match.

In case you’re searching for an update on this: well, OK so the extra storage is great. The fact they haven’t replied to any of my messages sucks. I am a paying customer 😉

Oh, and I didn’t get to see the England game in a pub as I was on public transport. The trains were empty. It was very strange.

And finally, proof that digital downloads can be good for the music industry.

BBC News has an article on camera ‘phones and a backlash against them. I read it and the main thing that stuck out to me was the fact that I have both the phones pictured and I don’t think either of them are good at taking photos. Sad isn’t it?

Meanwhile they also have an excellent article on the use of weblogging tools as learning aids for school children which I think raises some very interesting ideas for the use of software in education. Meanwhile, MediaPost links to an item that suggests bloggers are “they’re older and wealthier than what’s portrayed by their stereotype” [source]. I think we all wish we were wealthier but to be told I am older than other people thing is alarming!

It doesn’t feel like last week since I wrote anything here but it is. Given the May was possibly the most prolific month on Listen To Musak I think I am subconsciously giving myself a day or two off. The weather has been wonderful for the past couple of weeks and I’ve been extra busy in the office so there has been little time to get into the writing spirit.

Interestingly, the vote is in for the Mayor (Ken is back) and the local council elections. The results of the European elections were announced last night and it seems like the new countries didn’t get a very high turnout – which seems odd given their recent arrival into the community. It seems that a good number of people in the UK wanted to get the message across that they are not happy with plans to take us further into Europe. I think this is sad and wonder if it’s only a shot across Blair’s bow in the mid-term or a sign of something more powerful. The two main parties all lost and I watch with interest what their reactions to the recent votes are going to be. Turnout in the UK was up – which was certainly one good thing to come out of last Thursday’s poll.

Of course the main news pushing Europe to the middle pages is last night’s football defeat at the hands of France when it looked so certain that we had the game in the bag. Even I could tell there was some silly mistakes in injury time. And then I wake up this morning to see Ralf Schumacher was disqualified from yesterday’s Canadian Grand Prix resulting in a podium place for Jenson Button. And then we beat New Zealand at Cricket. I could almost take an interest in a summer of sport.

Just re-read yesterday’s post about The Day After Tomorrow and the link to Ian Holm’s page at the IMDB. I see he work born on the same day (admittedly, different year) as I was. Which, in turn, made me look who else they say was born on that day. Turns out it also lists those who died on 12th September which is quite a depressing way to start a new week.

I had a really relaxing holiday weekend. To the extent I don’t want to be back at work (but we all have to try to make a living), and I didn’t want to be in front of a computer. So I haven’t written anything for a few days.

I had a nice email from somebody in Poland, thanks to my entry welcoming the new countries to the ‘New Europe’ (can I trademark that?), which was welcoming, and Marek, I will reply (reasons for not as above).

Just when I thought I had nothing to say but to moan about the rather strange weather we are having here in London, I read ‘Booked in 60 seconds‘ from London’s Evening Standard newspaper (by way of thisislondon.co.uk) and became all irate with the AA stating ing that ‘There should be leeway’ when it comes to parking fines. It appears – and here’s where I go all Victor Meldrew – that I am the only soul in London who believes that parking rules are here to serve us and should be enforced. If your time is up, it’s up. Give up the space, you selfish moron. No leeway for parking. Rules are rules.

Anyway, I was going to compose a nice long rant about it, but then I found Ab Mania and felt – instantly – better by laughing.

The moral of this tale is that laughing is good for you (and the weather is still very strange in London).

A few weeks ago, I wrote this but didn’t ever get round to finishing what I was trying to write:

I am not sure what the point of the news that McDonald’s are to scrap ‘supersizing’ is, but it does seem somewhat silly when they don’t actually make the food healthier – we’ll just buy two portions now, won’t we? I am pleased to say that since my new gym routine started, I haven’t been anywhere near any type of fast food outlet. This, of course, makes me feel very virtuous when I shouldn’t. I haven’t stopped visiting the pub, and there are a lot of calories in bitter.

Well, all I can say is that I nipped into a branch of McDonald’s today (only for a cup of tea) as it was right outside a place where I had a meeting, and I had some time to kill. I was surprised to see a stack of leaflets with a nutritional breakdown of all their salads, which shows that some of them are no healthier than burgers, but some of them seem to be pretty good. I have no idea how they will persuade people to eat them, though, as, by the time you get to the counter, all you see is doughnuts!

It’s obvious that my previous posts about music and radio are connected. Music is more than just a personal space definer. It is, of course, a great mood-changer.

I noted the two radio breakfast programmes that I want to listen to. Chris Moyles and Terry Wogan are both great radio presenters, different in style, but no less entertaining. Having listened to Wogan for several years why did I switch? I think, ultimately, it came down to music choice. Wogan’s music has always been a little pedestrian and slow for my mornings. I don’t like it mad or frantic but I do like it upbeat. Now that there is an alternative breakfast presenter that I like, the choice has come down to the music. Chris Moyles plays upbeat music and I need that upbeat sound to get me going in the mornings. So my mornings are being re-defined for me.

It’s pancake day tomorrow. Now, my gym buddy and I are on a bit of a health kick. We want a body like Andrew Kinlochan or Philip Oliver, but that’s never going to happen. But, I would like to know if anybody has a recipe of a low fat version of the classic British pancake.

And if anybody’s interested. Gym Buddy and I have, so far, stuck to our routine so all is going well.

It was noted in January that Britain’s biggest grocer, Tesco, takes around one pound from every eight spent by UK shoppers. Well, today, they’re trying to take even more of mine as their new store on Lower Regent Street opened (including a barber shop quartet singing to welcome customers this lunchtime). The shelves were nicely stocked and where they were not, people were replenishing them. All the tills were staffed, and they seemed to be doing quite a nice trade indeed. Will the friendly service last? I wonder how it will change my lunch habits? I am used to using a local sandwich shop where lunch is made to order and doesn’t come pre-packed. I would like to think I will continue to visit but the lure of the big store and the ability to purchase something to eat tonight could be quite strong.

I have to say I am very impressed with the store’s look from the street; it fits in well with the buildings around it. Certainly, some thought has gone into that.