SteveThaiBinh

Yes, that match was a lot more fun to watch than I'd expected - not a dull defensive game, just a game between two teams with excellent defences. The goals, when they came, were pretty good, too.

Give out free pens with McDonalds' logos! I shall be spending much of my summer helping students to improve their spelling, despite their constant protestations that "spelling isn't important".

It's 39 degrees outside, and has hit 44 this week. I'm staying indoors with the air-conditioning on full blast, mate. :D

Happy Independence Day. Be sure to post pictures of actual celebrations or public events for us foreigners to gawp at enviously.

The Rockall Times Not all the stories would fool your middle-schoolers or be age-appropriate, but dig around and you should find something. I haven't looked at it for a while, so I can't think of anything in particular to recommend, sorry.

Maybe it just feels like four. :D We'd all love the mod to come out tomorrow, and of course we're all really impatient to get it, but all we can do is send our support to the team and reassure them that they can take as long as they feel is right, and we'll all still be waiting just as eagerly at the end.

Will The Darkness be doing the music? That would be very entertaining, I think. Other than that, though, thank you for bringing this game to my attention, but I think I'll probably pass.

We got rid of the ha'penny when I was a kid, and I still miss it a little. The only place I remember using it was the sweet shop, where every little extra helped . If you get rid of the penny in the US, though, you won't be able to price something as $5.99. Shopkeepers may resist the loss of their favourite psychological trick to get you to buy. Is there any progress on changing the $1 bill to a coin?

I wish I could do that. I just about made it to the temple in the hope that it would improve, but when it was clear that it wasn't going to, I just gave up. Another Troika bug-fest, plus I had the downloaded Trymedia version and couldn't patch it. I'm playing Oblivion as a mage. Plod, plod, zap, plod plod, zap. I was worried she was going to get creamed inside the Oblivion gates, but she's holding her own with high destruction, and I'm using a gentle levelling mod so I don't have to worry about it too much. Oblivion is the first game I've ever felt a mod make a dramatic improvement on my playing experience - hopefully Kotor 2 will be the second.

Kavar was pretty nice. Vash was, too, but and I think she was actually sorry about the treatment the Exile received, but that was in the cut content and didn't make the final game. I don't know if the Restoration Project is doing much to restore her part, but it would be nice.

That's just .... wrong! By the way, I saw on TV that Maradona flounced out of the Germany-Argentina match because one of his entourage was refused entry to the stadium.

Need a loan? Not that my predictions were any more accurate. I guess Germany or France will win, but I'm supporting Portugal, just because they have to be the underdogs now.

Did England lose on penalties in the quarter-finals? Who would have thought it? " I'm sure it's someone else's fault, though. Isn't the referee from Argentina? :D Congratulations Portugal!

I can understand watching it on TV, indeed I followed it two or three years when I was a student. What I don't get is people who go out and watch it live. You wait for three hours, then the riders whoosh by in a couple of seconds, then presumably you go home. Any excuse to lie around in the sun and drink, perhaps, but at least with a cricket match there is something going on that you can watch.

:D Sad, but true. Or funny and true. " The Saudis have a couple of players who could have played in Europe, albeit not in the best leagues, and got some experience that way. Unfortunately, the government won't let them go. So what do they expect?

I would have expected to see Attack of the Mutant Camels. I think the only game on there that I've heard of is Divine Divinity, and yes, that was a rather silly name, unless you're trying to appeal to priests I suppose.

My gym's bathroom doesn't have a chandelier. Really, it's a whole other world... Good to see he's okay.

Argentina 2-2 Germany (Argentina win on penalties) Italy 1-1 Ukraine (Italy win on penalties) England 1-1 Portugal (Portugal win on penalties) Brazil 2-1 France Argentina 1-0 Italy Brazil 1-0 Portugal Brazil 0-0 Argentina (Brazil win on penalties) I hope the games don't get more defensive and dull as we go on, but that's how it's often been in the past.

There was one at a health spa, and possibly one on a boat, though I've supressed that memory. One of those might have been 7. They were both dreadful. I didn't bother with the Magna **** Laude one, though it made it very easy to find a Christmas present for my dad this year. He says he enjoyed it, but it's easy to lie by Yahoo Messenger.

A quick peek at Heavy Melody's website suggests that they're not limited to heavy metal, and in the interview they talk about creating the effect of an orchestra through sampling rather than hiring a real orchestra at high cost. So basically it's Atari doing the sound on the cheap, but it should still sound good if that WoW demo is anything to go by. And, of course, if they include decent quality sound files with the game rather than releasing them in a patch six months later. "

My dad's favourite game. :D I assume you mean the original? The first few titles of the series were pretty funny, though you'd never know it by playing the later ones.

I wouldn't say I cared about it as much as story or dialogue, for example, but you do have to look at your character for hours on end. When graphics were more basic, as in Baldur's Gate or Arcanum, it didn't matter that much - you could barely make out your character's features, so it was sort of a blank canvas for your imagination. The portrait was all-important, and have you seen how many sites have huge portrait sections? With the in-game character approaching the same level of detail, it's natural that people want the same level of customisability as was available with portraits in earlier games.

England will lose on penalties in the quarter-finals. It's traditional, like fish'n'chips or rain. Also, David Beckham was on the news today saying he wanted the game to get physical, so perhaps we'll see him kick someone and get sent off again. I'm starting to think that Germany might have a chance of winning the championship. I haven't thought so until now, but the home advantage may do it, as Argentina haven't seemed able to repeat their stunning display against Serbia and Montenegro.

Possibly. Whatever they do with faces and hair, I hope it's a bit more like The Sims and not too much like Oblivion where everyone has a really bad face rash, especially below the nose. For all the customisability of Oblivion, the hair was a real pain - apart from two or three options, I'm sure the other styles would bug me as I played, as I play with the third-person view on.

I'm drinking Dried Ivy Leaf Extract for an irritating cough. Nice, but not as nice as Calpol, the best medicine in the world.