First of all congratualtions to Liverpool – their players and all their fans. 3/4 of the stadium was full of Liverpool fans and they completely out-numbered the Milan fans.

What an amazing match. Liverpool were 3-0 down at half time to a brilliant AC Milan team. Milan were playing like they did against United and were playing really well. It all looked it was all over for Liverpool. Rafael made a few changes – he changed the formation and bought on a couple new players. Liverpool scored within 10 minutes and scored 3 goals in just over 5 minutes. It was amazing!! Liverpool then had all the play. Overall the extra time was not as exciting as the first 90 minutes but Dudek did make a superb double save. First one was amazing, but the second one had an element of luck in it. It finally got to the lottery of the penalties. Dudek made a great save but Milan missed a couple penalties. Their first was a terrible penalty and he skyed the shoot.

Match review (BBC)

Watched a really interesting program last night about some extraordinary people. The person they focused on was called Daniel Tammet. If you search using Google you will actually find out loads of information about him. He was able to do massive calculations really quick e.g. 321378323 x 78321332. The thing is he did not work at out as such but knew the answer without thinking. He just saw it in his head (in the form of shapes). He was also able to remember PI to over 22,500 places. It was amazing stuff. What Daniel is is called a savant. Normally for people who show such amazing skills have difficulty describing what they see because of disabilities. Daniel did not have any major disabilities but was autistic so could not do thinks like drive, tell left from right and also wire a plug.

Article about Daniel on Guardian Unlimited

They also showed several other people including the character in the movie The Rainman was based on. He was like a walking encyclopedia.

I also read about a young girl who can paint amazing painting. She started painting when she was 4 – she is now on 10 years old. Read more about her.

Ever wondered what Darth Vader’s blog would be like and what he would say????

Check it out here – http://darthside.blogspot.com/

Even though its still only in its Beta stage there is a new feature to Google Maps. There is now a satellite version so you can view places as if from a satellite. For now its only really has maps from the US but will likely have more soon.

Google Maps

If you didn’t know I really love movies. Back in March 2005 I wrote down a big list with a load of upcoming movies for this year (with 1 or 2 to be released in 2006). Since then I have seen some trailers for some good looking movies so I decided to re-do the list and create a separate section (this page can easily be accessed now for the Miscellaneous page). I more than likely won’t see all the movies below (since some just seem ‘alright’ and maybe just wait till on DVD/TV) but will be checking out the main blockbuster ones like Star Wars and Fantastic Four. Most of the trailers I view are on the great site Daves Trailer Page.

So here is the new list (to be honest this is more a record for me so I make sure I don’t miss any ‘must-see’ movies). If there are any movies you think should be on the must see list please tell me – I am sure to have forgotten some.

Still in no particular order these are:

Stealth Star Wars 3 aka Revenge of the Sith King Kong (actually released right at the start of 2006) Fantastic Four Assault On Precinct 13 – watched (pretty good) Unleashed The Interpreter Batman Begins Constantine Harry Potter 4 aka Goblets of Fire War of the Worlds Hostage Mr and Mrs Smith The Wallace & Gromit Movie: The Curse Of The Were Rabbit The Island The Da Vinci Code (released 2006) Superman Returns (2006) Madagascar Flight Plan The Wedding Crashers The Transporter 2 Dukes Of Hazzard – this could be Ok or really bad. Fun with Dick and Jane Longest Yard Sin City Rebound Cars (2006) Red Eye V for Vendetta

Just finished watching a problem all about Jose Mourinho and how he started his managerial career etc. I didnt used to like him as he seemed arrogant and also beat United in the Champions League when he was with Porto.

However, the more I hear him and see him on TV the more I like him. He sometimes steps over the mark like the whole Barcelona ref thing.

On the program today what I really liked was how much respect he says he has for Sir Alex Ferguson and how he really likes him. However, he doesnt really like Arsene Wenger and Arsenal He said when Arsenal beat Everton 7-0 he was not happy at all but he liked the middle of the season when they were losing!! Hehehe. Jose Mourinho: The Special One.

Wasnt sure whether to write about this but have to say something. I only got back home a couple hours before kick off so watched recording of it. I kind off knew who won before I started watching the recording because I checked to see if the match was finished so could watch the tape but it was extra time – a bit later I checked again and saw part of an Arsenal shirt and enough clues to kindoff know what happened. Anyway to the actual match …..

We played so much better than Arsenal. It was one of the most one sided finals for a long time. We had lots of chances and nearly all the attacking play. Arsenals man of the match was the goalie. The official Man of the Match was Rooney who was fantastic – Ronaldo was brilliant too and was very close to Man of the Match. It finally went to penalties which is only good when you win!! Arsenal scored all theirs and only Scholes had his saved. It wasnt a terrible penalty but too close to the keeper.

There was several positives including a lot of our young players like Rooney, Ronaldo and Fletcher. Some negatives is that Ruud is still not back to full fitness – its taking him ages to get fit but hopefully he will be fine next season.

Went to Barcelona with a load of friends for 6 days and got back from Barcelona yesterday and still tired. Had a great time – I highly recommend Barcelona as a holiday destination. The weather was perfect really – it wasnt too hot but hot enough. (There was 1 day where it pretty much rained all day though).

We got to Barcelona Sunday afternoon after getting up really early – about 230am. One of our friends who was the driver had to drive from Birmingham and woke up at 1230am!! We got to the airport with plenty of time so we continued some karoake singing in the car. We arrived in Barcelona and the weather was around 22C and nice and sunny. The weather was always around 22C but did go up to around 24C later on in the week.

The hotel we stayed in was really nice – it was abit away from the centre but was just a few minutes walk to the metro. The hotel was called Capital H&R (Hotel Capital). You can see some pictures here. The Metro system was pretty good – we got a 5 day pass for I think 19Euros – thats about £13 so not bad at all. The hotel was also near a large shopping centre which we used to stock up on water, snacks, alcohol etc…..

The first day we voted lots of sightseeing places. We checked out Square Catalu̱a AKA Pla̤a Catalunya which is like Trafalger Square. We also checked out Las Ramblas which is one of the most famous streets in Barcelona. Its a street with lots of street performances and living statues. We had read how Las Ramblas was the worst place for pickpocketing so we didnt really stop and watch much. At the south end of Las Ramblas is Port Vell. This had been done up for the Olympics Games in Barcelona in 1992 and had a nice ice cream there РI think it was a Cornetto Top Choc I had We also checked out a Cathedral Рnot sure what it was called but in a guide book it was just called The Cathedral. Other things seen was the Arch de Triumph which was just like the one in France but smaller. We were also lucky to see the Barcelona Football Team Bus. Barcelona had won the league the previous day so were driving through the city in an open top bus. We did not plan to see them but we were walking around and got to Square Catalunya and there were 1000s of people. At first wondered what was happening but then saw a load of Barcelona football tops and then remember about them winning the league. It was quite funny waiting for the team bus to arrive because 5 minute before with everyone waiting, cheering and clapping a normal tour bus drove past full of old ladies (maybe they took a wrong turn!!) Рthey were all smiling and seemed to find it funny.

We headed back to the hotel all tired and decided just to eat in the hotel restaurant – unfortunately they wasnt really any restaurants around the hotel apart from 1 Chinese restaurant (I we were not going to go all the way to Barce and eat Chinese food!). I had a Beer Sirloin and Grilled Veg – it was really nice but not enough and very expensive. To finish the night a few of us went back to the hotel bar and had a drink – beer with a whisky torpedo I think it was.

On Monday we went to Sagrada Familia which is the famous cathedral designed by Antonio Gaudi, which is still being built. Heard a tour guide say it builders say will be finished 2026 but he doesnt think it will be. It did look really nice. To get to the top you had to use spiral stair case – it was actually more difficult walking down the stairs than up them! After some lunch – Tapa – we went to Parc Guell which had statues etc designed by Gaudi. Gaudi has actually designed lots of things around Barcelona. We also say a building he designed called Casa Batllo.

For the evening meal we had Tapas again in a restaurant called Tapa Tapa – it was really nice.

Tuesday was the one and only rainy day – we didnt do much for most of the day apart from check out the shopping centre. However, later on we went out for a meal and go clubbing to celebrate one of our friends birthday. We went to the restaurant called Attic (on Las Ramblas) – I had paella which was really nice. It was properly the best meal I had in Barcelona and properly the nicest restaurants. We went clubbing in a place called Jamboree – it was a jazz and dance club – up to about 1230am it was jazz and then it changes to a normal club. Its quite strange – as soon as its around 1230 the jazz band go, the R&B music starts and the get rid of the chairs. We spent most of the night in the upper level which played 90s songs for most of the night. It did become more latin type music later on so we went downstairs which was more R&B. Most of my friends like R&B so that was OK – its not always my cup of tea but I like most music. We stayed out till around 330 and then headed home. Everything in Barcelona and I guess the rest of Spain starts later. People dont really eat till 930ish and then clubs dont get busy till near midnight.

Wednesday – we split into different groups for the first part of the day. One group went shopping and the other went to the Nou Camp. The Nou Camp was pretty impressive but it was not a guided tour – we just walked around the stadium. We didnt leave the hotel till around 1pm but we did have a late night! We met up, had a bite to eat (a hot dog with dried fried onions?????) and then went to a nearby beach. Had a bit of a kick about , relaxing and strolling by the beach. Dinner was a restaurant on Las Ramblas – we all shared pizza and paella.

On Thurday we went to Montserrat – to get we took a train which took about an hour. We then had to get a cable car to go up the mountain – I am usually scared of heights but I was OK. The viewed from the top were really good. We actually took a tram to go even higher – the views were even better. Montserrat took most of the day and people were getting really really hungry. We all needed food quick!!! So we went to McDonalds – I had not had McDonalds for about a year try to cut back and all fast food etc – I have to say it tasted fantastic!!

The final day we went to a Beach to the SouthEast of Barcelona near a place called Glories. We spent a good few hours there. We then did a little shopping in a nearby shopping centre. The final dinner was another restaurant on Las Ramblas – most of us had paella. Unfortunately for the last meal it was possibly the worst meal. Oh well!!

Got back to hotel and started packing and eventually got to sleep around 1am.

Got to airport all fine (apart from someone losing there mobile) but the flight was delayed a little bit. We got to Liverpool slightly behind schedule but all was OK apart from the weather!!! It was pretty cold and miserable. Went to Chinatown for some food and then headed home.

I didnt buy much on Barcelona apart from some chocolates for parents and workmates (and some for myself). A couple magnets and also a Barcelona football top with Ronaldinho’s name on the back.

Had a great holiday in Barcelona – not just the actual place but also the company I was with. We played cards almost every night and had hotel parties in the hotel room. One night we started laughing so hard and couldn’t stop my stomach was hurting in the morning!!

Photos can be viewed here (It is password protected so email for it)

Went to see Melanie C last night in Manchester Academy 2. It was postponed for about 3 weeks because Mel had been ill.

The special guests were a band called Countermine. They were overall alright. After what seemed like an age waiting Mel finally came on stage. She was on great form and sang songs from the latest album as well as some classics from the first Album Northern Star. She didnt seem to sing too many from the second album (Reason). My personal favourite was properly Northern Star.

Here is the setlist:

Beautiful Intentions
Yeh Yeh Yeh
Ga Ga
You WIll See
Don’t Need This
Here & Now
Never Be The Same Again
Northern Star
Never Say Never
Last Night on Earth
Better Alone
Little Piece of Me
Going Down
Go
I Turn to You
You’ll Get Yours

Mel really seemed to be enjoying herself and so did the crowd. She actually said at one point that “Your up for it tonight arent you!”

I am never that good writing these reviews – lots of people have written there views and comments on the official Melanie C forum.

Photos can be seen here . Unfortunately I am not that tall so could not get fantastic photos – I was about 7 rows back. I also have some sound clips and 1 or 2 movies. The sound clips and movies may not go online – will have to see what the quality is like.

The nominations for the Webby Awards were announced several weeks ago now – voting has actually closed. If you don’t know, the Webby Awards are kind of like the online Oscars. The winners are announced on 3rd May.

They are all sorts of catogories such as Celebrity, Games, Music and News.

The complete list of nominees are here.

UPDATE – The winners have now been announced. Click here

Related links:

Official Site