Just so I don't have my Manchester United supporter friends accusing me of unfairly bashing them, let me spout a few words on my most hated footie team: the dull-as-mud Liverpool. Something about this side just completely irks me. I can watch Man U and appreciate that they are a brilliant team (one match in particular stands out for me, their 8-1 drubbing of Nottingham Forest from their treble-winning season). But watching Liverpool ... ack, it's torture.

The feather in their horrible cap is their ridiculous manager, the idiotic Gerard Houllier. A poor man's Alex Ferguson (very poor), this bonehead has an excuse for everything. Take last weekend's draw against Arsenal, in which Houllier accused Arsenal's Francis Jeffers of diving under a mild challenge from John Arne Riise to earn a penalty. A quote from Houllier: "I asked John Arne Riise and he's very honest and fair, and he said he didn't pull the shirt. He was very unhappy as he felt it was unfair." Translation: "My player is a good guy, so come on. He wouldn't lie now, would he?"

Maybe it's the fault of the British sports media. If I commented that last night's meatloaf was okay, the headline would read "Graves Launches Scathing Attack On Mediocre Meal." It's insane that in the articles on Soccernet you have to scroll through five paragraphs of interpretation before you read an actual quote. After their loss last weekend, my beloved Chelsea are five points behind leaders Arsenal, in second place ahead of Manchester United on goal difference. 21 games have been played, 17 to go. But according to Soccernet, "Chelsea's title hopes were dealt a crushing blow" by the 2-nil loss to Leeds. What? Five points is insurmountable now, eh? I'm not saying we're going to win the championship ... personally, I think the Chelsea squad needs another year to gel ... but where did that claim come from?

I can't believe I referred to the Doves song "There Goes The Fear" as "Here Comes The Fear" below in my post of December 18. My brain is trying to tell me something. Something along the lines of, "you've lost it". Seriously, I really do like Doves. No, really!

Had a midwestern-style Christmas last week, in Ames, Iowa, with Veronica's family. A week of getting up at noon, then watching movies and playing video games until little Ana decided she wanted to play/watch cartoons/make a lot of noise/throw a fit. All in all, it was a relaxing time and allowed me to recharge the batteries a bit. I saw a few movies for the first time (and a lot for the eighth or ninth time) ...

• Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones - The Star Wars mystique grows ever smaller. Sure, the Yoda lightsaber duel was cool, but that doesn't make up for the groans I was making every time they went to a scene involving Anakin and Padme's sappy love story. Better than Episode 1? Perhaps. Probably. Who cares? I'd rather watch The Empire Strikes Back again instead.
• Black Hawk Down - Not at all what I expected. A really brutal war film in the tradition of Full Metal Jacket, only without Vincent D'Onofrio. I was crying by the end. A very powerful statement on modern war and the role of the United States as an international policeman.
• Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers - A movie I actually had to go to a theater to see! I made Veronica watch The Fellowship of the Ring the night before to prepare. It's a good movie, not fantastic, but worthwhile. I loved the Gollum/Sméagol scenes. The battle at Helm's Deep goes on for about 15 minutes too long, as do several other scenes. The whole movie feels like it could have used some more editing.

I also watched a lot of Father Ted and The Young Ones, as Veronica got those DVDs for Christmas. My presents included a nice new electric razor, a wireless Gamecube controller, and FIFA 2003 for the Gamecube. FIFA is good, definitely a beautiful game to look at. I haven't mastered the gameplay yet. The big advancement is the manual passing system, which allows you to pass not to where a player is, but to where a player is going. It's tough to get the hang of, but in the odd instances that I've done it correctly the quantum leap over previous soccer games becomes apparent. Must improve my skills so as I can once again raise my beloved Chelsea to the title of Champions of the Known Universe. Embarassing Manchester United 7-nil is a stress-reliever second only to beating the crap out of someone who cuts you off in Grand Theft Auto.

And yes, I finally picked up Splinter Cell for the Xbox yesterday, using some Best Buy gift cards (thanks Em!). I could just watch the lighting effects in this game, let alone actually play the game. Head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. It's a frigging hard game ... I can finish the training course no problem, but then I get dumped in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and all hell breaks loose. Got to work on my stealth skills.