Grecians Goal!

In my never-ending quest to be at the vanguard of multimedia, and in anticipation of new Apple iPods (6G) on September 5th, I've uploaded my video clip of Exeter City FC's one and only goal during their Conference "play-off" final against Morecombe at the new Wembley Stadium.

Don't forget that iTunes UK now features hit television shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives. I'd be most surprised if Apple doesn't announce movies to coincide with the launch of new iPods this week!

"Come on City!"

Despite being unable to find a QuickTime codec to view .3gp digital video clips (recorded using my LG Chocolate mobile phone), I've successfully uploaded footage, taken from the Conference "play-off" final held at the new Wembley Stadium, to YouTube!



This clip captures the moment that Lee Phillips scored Exeter City FC's first, and only, goal during their epic clash with Morecombe.

Mario Strikers Charged (Wii) is aptly released this week!

Grecians Play Wembley Way

The last time I went to Wembley Stadium Michael Jackson was creating HIStory! That was a decade ago and, following the former King of Pop's visit to St James Park in 2002 at the behest of Uri Gellar, Exeter City FC returned the favour by playing at the new Wembley Stadium, costing a cool £750 million, in the Conference "play-off" final against Morecombe, yesterday! This was in front of a record-breaking Conference League audience of over 40,000 supporters.



Relatives and me likened the new stadium's architecture to LAX airport! However, an impressive, and much improved, venue nonetheless. OK, the two towers really should have been incorporated into the design - their ghost will, forever, remain - and the new logo looks like an upturned satellite dish!

We should have been 3-0 up at half time! But, what's the good of an excellent goalie (really impressive performance) without on-par strikers and defenders? Morecombe exploited inadequate defending and pace. Morecombe's defence, itself, left much to be desired, yet our strikers lacked the flair, verve, or precision needed to volley into an open goal! To be fair, several players blasted the ball over the net, for glory, and who could blame them? Fair play.

That said. Exeter City FC's defeat shouldn't detract from a truly memorable day and a feverish end-to-end football game that belied its Conference League roots; putting some Barclays Premiership clashes to shame. The atmosphere was truly electrifying.

Despite both my teams (including Manchester United) losing at the weekend, seeing Exeter City FC play at Wembley, the day after the FA Cup final, was an historic event I'll never forget, especially as I was unable to attend Exeter City FC's FA Cup third round tie against Manchester United in 2005.

"Exeter is excellent!" Indeed. View more of my match photos on Flickr.

Coke, Cannes and free iTunes

I'd meant to comment on the latest Coca-Cola announcement, but have been preoccupied with traveling arrangements for Sunday's Conference "play-off" final between Exeter City FC and Morecombe at the new Wembley Stadium! I'll be posting photos, on Flickr, for those of you who are interested.

Coca-Cola, not content with Nintendo's Get Up and Play bling-bling, is running another Coke+iTunes promotion this summer for all of us lucky Europeans!

As part of the promotion, Coke and iTunes will give away songs from the iTunes Store in over 2 billion promotional packs of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero this summer. The on-pack promotion will also offer customers the chance to win free iPods and attend some of the 100-plus Coke and iTunes sponsored summer concerts across Europe. The promotion will be launched at the Cannes Film Festival with a special live performance from Faithless, who have recorded an exclusive track for Coke and iTunes and collaborated with designers Paranoid on a limited-edition, aluminium Coke bottle.

"Coca-Cola has a long and rich heritage in music, from memorable advertising tracks to grassroots support to big live events. In Summer 2006 we started an innovative new partnership with iTunes," said Chris R. Burggraeve, group marketing director for the European Union Group. "Coke+iTunes aims to reinvent the ways young people create, listen to, and experience music every day. Thanks to Coke+iTunes, European youth will enjoy this Summer 2007 the biggest pan European music experience ever. And what better way to build bridges among European cultures than through music?"

"iTunes is the world's most popular online music store selling 58 songs every second at a rate of 5 million tracks a day," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We've already had great success working with Coca-Cola over the past year and this new pan-European initiative gives music fans across Europe the ability to download free music all summer long."

American readers you'll have to write Pepsi!

Electric Youth

This morning's spring cleaning unearthed unexpected gems! I found an old Exeter College magazine, which I contributed articles to (these won't be republished here due to the naivety of prose). A review of, or more like rave about, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (1988) and Gloria Estefan's Homecoming Concert video. This elicited a train of thought that arrived at Debbie Gibson (there's a connection with Michael Jackson as you'll see)!

Please indulge my adoration of Americana and enjoy the following camp/nostalgic clips featuring singer-songwriter Debbie Gibson at her precocious best!

This first clip was taken from Debbie Gibson's "Out of the Blue" concert tour (1988). The concert was shown on Channel Four in the summer of 1989 prior to Bros' "Bros into Summer" concert at Wembley Stadium (first shown on Sky One and I still have a copy of the concert and documentary on VHS), where Debbie was a support act. The song, Foolish Beat, is a guilty pleasure and evokes cherished teenage memories.



Can't ignore Debbie's clarion call. Electric Youth '89...



How jazzed was I when she appeared in Michael Jackson's video for Liberian Girl and sang several notes?



Expect to see and read about more youthful crushes/aspirations in the coming weeks.

Message to Ben Amos, if you ever read this, Steps Posse Forever!?!

Too Low For Zero

With the FIFA World Cup coverage now at saturation point! I'm inspired to impart the following football anecdote, which first appeared here.

In the summer of 1989 Dad, Uncle Allan, Mike and me watched Torquay United play Bolton Wanderers at Wembley Stadium. We'd secured VIP tickets and therefore were able to park in the VIP car park.

The guest of honor, Sir Elton John (obese, bold, pallid and dressed in what can only be described as Parson's attire), arrived in his signature black Bentley! His driver was promptly told not to park in the private members area! His royal highness, Sir Elton John, stepped out of the car. But, security were nonplussed and reiterated, to the driver (whose protestations had incensed security), to move the car or it would be towed away!!!

Whilst this was going on, I took the opportunity to ask Sir Elton for an autograph? His driver informed me that Mr Elton wasn't signing today, before returning to argue with security! Nice. I couldn't resist telling Sir Elton that I was a Michael Jackson fan! And the car was driven away!

So, there you have it, unequivocal proof that Sir Elton John is an incorrigible diva! Can't wait to meet Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey one day!

Express Yourself

Pepsi has announced an iPod promotion in Australia alongside sponsorship of pop sensation Delta Goodrem! Presumably there'll be a similar Pepsi promo in Europe when iTunes Music Store is released?

After losing many daylight hours testing the World of Warcraft beta. DarkRyder has been joined by Human Warrior Mondas (named after the home planet of Doctor Who's calculating Cybermen). He resembles the new He-Man sculpt from The Four Horsemen! Fans of Blizzard's various franchises may be delighted to learn that Mac OS X installation patches for classic titles Diablo and Starcraft are to be released over the coming weeks. Feel the love!

Can't wait for Friday's release of The Day After Tomorrow! CGI geeks (and who isn't?) should see Terragen, a landscape generator that is heavily utilised in the movie!

Madonna begins her "Reinvention" World Tour tonight. Aroused by the success of Britney, Beyoncé and Kylie, Madonna is "dusting off" those old hits - Get Into The Groove to Vogue - and promises a show as spectacular and provocative as Blond Ambition '90 (I attended the infamous live BBC Radio One broadcast from Wembley Stadium in July, 1990).

The Sun and listening to Alanis Morissette's So-Called Chaos is so soaking up my time! BTW I watched The Corrs new video on MTV! It still "hurts" to look at Andrea!