The second season of Chris Carter's Millennium, currently being shown on Sci-Fi here in the UK, comes to an end tonight. The last episode of season two, entitled "The Time Is Now", airs at 12am. That's then followed by the start of the third season, with the episode "The Innocents" at 1am... I can't wait!
Argh! This inconsistency is driving me crazy! After thumping the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Monday night, the Caps lost 5-2 to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. Along with Florida, the Caps are the only team not to have won consecutive games this season. The Montreal Canadiens are up next tonight.
The last Concorde landed at its new home yesterday - Filton Airfield, the British airfield where it was built - marking a sad day for aviation. My good friend Phil managed to take a few photos as it flew over near where he works - this is one of them. BBC News also has a photo gallery for your viewing pleasure.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American visitors!
The Caps beat the Red Wings 4-1 last night! Rookie goalie Rastislav Stana stopped 38 shots, and in doing so, became the first Slovakian goalie to win an NHL game. I hope he starts again on Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres - Kolzig has played 16 straight games, and I think he could use a little rest.
England beat Australia 20-17 to win the Rugby World Cup on Saturday! The game went into extra-time, but just 26 seconds before the end, a Jonny Wilkinson drop goal gave England all the glory. The Australian PM was pretty upset with the result, but at least the Aussie press showed a little more respect.
In sports news, despite going a goal ahead, Villa lost 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur yesterday, much to David O'Leary's disbelief (and mine, too). The loss keeps Villa in the relegation zone, and only three points off the bottom of the league. Doug had better make some transfer money available - and quick.
Over the other side of the pond, the San Jose Earthquakes are the MLS Cup Champions after a 4-2 win over Chicago. In hockey news, the Caps still continue to struggle. They lost 3-2 at Boston on Thursday night, and 3-2 at home to Florida on Saturday night. The Caps play the Red Wings in Detroit tonight.
Well, the test was harder than I thought it would be. But, unlike last time, at least I got there in good time! I hope I've made it through to the next stage of the selection process. Detecting sequential patterns, and determining spatial relationships wasn't too bad, but I fear my maths may have let me down.
The state visit ended today, and President Bush is on his way home. Apart from that huge security breach at Buckingham Palace, the dreadful terrorist attacks in Turkey yesterday, and those pathetic protestors milling around everywhere, the visit seems to have gone better than some had predicted.
It was finally made official yesterday - 14 year old U.S. soccer star Freddy Adu, has signed a six year contract with Major League Soccer, and will play for D.C. United. This is great news for the league, and for D.C. United, who now have one of the best - if not the best - young players in the world.
On a more sombre note, today's terrorist attacks in Turkey - this time aimed at British interests - just goes to show why war on terror must go on. And as for those anti-war protestors toppling an effigy of President Bush in London's Trafalgar Square today - have you ever seen anything so pathetic?
I applied for a job a while back, and the company I applied to phoned me this evening to invite me to a pre-employment testing session this Friday at 10am! I assume that if I pass this testing session I'll then be interviewed for the job. Now all I have to do is work out how best to get to this place on time!
In a few hours time U.S. President George W. Bush will arrive in the UK. Whilst there's a lot of talk here about why he shouldn't be coming (the anti-American Daily Mirror being chief culprit), I think the fact that this visit is going to inconvenience a lot of Londoners is all the more reason why he should come...
Anyway, on to other things. We now know that the battle for the MLS Cup, which takes place this Sunday, will be between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Chicago Fire. Also in MLS news, according to this article, U.S. soccer prodigy Freddy Adu will be playing for D.C. United next season!
It was a little disappointing to see the England football team lose 3-2 to Denmark after the rugby team's superb semi-final victory in the World Cup yesterday. The England coach blamed the defence. Well Sven, that's what you get for having the cheek to play a useless defender from the evil enemy across the city!
I'm absolutely fascinated by all the security arrangements that will be in place to protect U.S. President George W. Bush when he visits the UK tomorrow. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of planning things like this must take. However, as with most state visits, there's always a few idiots, aren't there?
I'm not a big fan of Rugby, but I'm absolutely delighted that England are through to the Rugby World Cup final after beating France 24-7. England faces the hosts Australia, who are also the holders. The Aussies have got to be favourites to win the final in front of home support, but don't write England off yet.
After being thumped 5-1 on home ice a week or so back, Tampa Bay gave the struggling Caps a taste of their own medicine by beating them 5-2 at MCI Center on Friday night. However, the Caps rebounded with a 2-1 win in Carolina last night, thanks to goalie Olaf Kolzig's 38 save performance.
I finished reading techno-thriller Utopia earlier this week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As the review on the back cover of the novel says, it's like the movie Die Hard in a theme park. Now I'll have to find something else to read until No Second Chance by Harlan Coben - one of my favourite authors - is released.
The new album, Afterglow, by Sarah McLachlan is simply brilliant! After a couple of plays, the tracks that stand out for me are Fallen (the first single), World On Fire and Train Wreck. If I had one criticism to level at the album it would be this: the 10-track, 40-minute album is over too quickly!
Something must have really sparked the Caps attack on Wednesday night, and whatever it was, I hope it continues! The Caps gave the Hurricanes a good 7-1 lashing, and Lang netted his first career hat trick! Any chance of a repeat performance tonight against the nasty Tampa Bay Lightning guys?
I don't think I can bear it much longer. Another 3-2 defeat, this time by the Los Angeles Kings, has left the Caps with a lot of soul searching to do. The Caps have now lost 10 of their last 12 games, and their performances are driving the fans away in large numbers. The Carolina Hurricanes are up next on Wednesday.
I've recently seen New Alcatraz and Double Jeopardy. Being a sci-fi movie, I could forgive the crazy bits in New Alcatraz, but I just couldn't forgive the computer-generated snake, which I thought spoiled an otherwise good film. Double Jeopardy was also good, but with tighter writing, it could have been brilliant.
Having grown bored with achieving MLS glory many times over with D.C. United in Championship Manager 4, I've decided to challenge my management skills by starting a new game with the Seattle Sounders, and seeing if I can lead them to A-League glory. I'm sure it won't be easy. Wish me luck!
The computer virus was 20 years old yesterday - forgive me for not joining in the celebrations, won't you? Finally, according to various net filtering firms, spam is set to soar this Christmas. No surprise there then. Please don't encourage these scumbags even more by purchasing something from them.
Villa manager David O'Leary reckons his team is facing a battle to beat relegation this season. Given Saturday's performance in the 2-0 loss to Middlesbrough, I'd have to agree with him. Villa's league position isn't exactly great, and the fact the enemy across the city is eleven places higher, makes it even worse.
Meanwhile, across the pond, the Caps are continuing to struggle with their form, too. Another poor performance condemned them to a 3-2 defeat against San Jose on Saturday night. Up next tonight, in the second game of a four game homestand, are the Los Angeles Kings.
So it wasn't to be. Perhaps, as some pointed out beforehand, it was never going to be anyway. D.C. United were eliminated from the playoffs today, losing 2-0 to Chicago Fire (4-0 on aggregate). For D.C. United, the game could be summed up in one sentence: if you don't shoot, you don't score!
Not long to go now! At 6pm (1pm EST) D.C. United will march on to the pitch at New Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, looking to beat Chicago Fire and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. It'll be a tough game - United need three goals to advance, or two goals to force sudden death.
After their 5-1 demolition of the Lightning on Tuesday night, I'd of expected the Caps to have shown the same fight against the Flyers last night as well. Unfortunately, they didn't, and they lost 4-2. The Caps now begin a four game home stand that opens Saturday against the San Jose Sharks.
I was fairly convinced yesterday that the Caps were going to get hammered by Tampa Bay. However, they proved me wrong by thumping the Lightning 5-1, and handing them their first defeat of the season! That win was also the Caps first win away from home. The Philadelphia Flyers are up next on Thursday.
I forgot to mention yesterday that DJ Ti�sto has been voted #1 in DJ Mag's Top 100 for the second year in a row! Van Dyk and Armin came 2nd and 3rd respectively. I haven't seen Ti�sto live since my July 2002 trip to Ibiza, but I am looking forward to his new album, scheduled for release sometime in 2004.
Amazon UK are selling X-Files DVD Box Sets for �39.99 at the moment. Considering they used to be �89.99, this is exceptional value for money. Since I already have the first three seasons on DVD, I decided to treat myself to Season 4, which is slightly more expensive for some reason, but pretty cheap nonetheless.
Finally, tonight the Caps face the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year - Tampa Bay Lightning. Given their poor form at the moment, I'm expecting the Caps to get absolutely hammered. Tampa Bay are the only unbeaten team in the NHL, and they're playing extremely well.
The second season of Millennium has really disappointed me. It's not the actual episodes I'm disappointed with (there have been some outstanding ones), it's the direction that new Executive Producers Glen Morgan and James Wong took it in that I'm disappointed with. If only Chris Carter had stayed in charge...
In hockey news, the Caps finally snapped their eight game winless streak and six game losing streak with a 2-1 win against Atlanta on Friday night. Unfortunately, their good performance against the Thrashers didn't carry over to their next game against the Wild on Saturday night, and they lost 2-1.
In football news, Villa earned an excellent point with a 1-1 draw at Newcastle, thanks in part to a great penalty save by goalie Thomas Sorensen. Over the other side of the pond, D.C. United have dug themselves into a very deep hole in the first round of the playoffs, by losing 2-0 at home to Chicago in the first leg.
Finally, I'm going to have to alter the submission process for my popular Anti-Spam Protection File in order to reduce its size. I have a feeling the new submission process might be a little unpopular, but hopefully people will see it's necessary to keep the file alive. The new process takes effect November 6th.
