J.A.W.

It's now June 28, 12.04 AM over here, so... have a great day!

No, at least not half as good as the U.K. box in my opinion, and the sound of that box is really amazing, like I said much, much better than all domestic (U.S.) reissues I had (and sold). Hans, I remember learning from a BNBB discussion that at least some (I believe the first group of eight Capitol Remasters: "In the Wee Small Hours", "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!", "A Swingin' Affair!", "Sings for Only the Lonely", "Come Fly with Me", "Come Dance with Me!", "Nice 'N' Easy", and "Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!". The remaining Capitol reissues were released a couple of years later.) of the Capitol "Entertainer of the Century" discs were remastered TWICE. I do not recall who did the original remasterings of these eight discs, but now ALL of the Capitol remasters (and the Concepts boxed set) identify Bob Norberg as the remastering engineer. I do not doubt your assessment of the sound of the 21-CD Capitol Years set, nor have I had the opportunity to A/B the two remasters of the first eight Capitol CD's that were released in the "Entertainer of the Century" series, but may I ask whether you compared the Capitol Years set to the initial remasters or those done by Bob Norberg? Thanks! The initial remasters. However, I'm told that the U.K. box still sounds better than the later domestic (U.S.) remasters; I haven't heard those, though, so I can't comment.

Full time, Czech Republic 3, Denmark 0 Semifinal 2: Czech Republic vs. Greece on Thursday.

Apparently no team is capable of playing nothing but excellent football... Seriously, your assessment is spot-on. The Czechs are still top-favourites though, at least in my opinion.

Another Czech goal! Czech Republic 3, Denmark 0

Fantastic Czech goal! (No offside) Czech Republic 2, Denmark 0

A goal at last! Czech Republic 1, Denmark 0

Half time, Czech Republic 0, Denmark 0 A disappointing first half with the Danes more in possession, but totally ineffective.

No, at least not half as good as the U.K. box in my opinion, and the sound of that box is really amazing, like I said much, much better than all domestic (U.S.) reissues I had (and sold).

I agree, but don't forget they had to play in temperatures that exceeded 90F / 33C, which is pretty tough for players who aren't used to that kind of heat. You're right, but I don't think there would be room for your alternates in the tight tournament schedule. Besides, the opponent in the next round that wouldn't have had to play so much extra time would have a huge (physical) advantage, which wouldn't be fair either in my opinion.

I'd recommend the U.K. 21CD-box The Capitol Years. It has all the Capitol albums plus many extra tracks, and the sound is pristine - actually, it sounds better than all other Sinatra Capitol CD reissues I've heard, including the U.S. "Entertainer of the Century" reissues. AMG review It's available from Amazon UK (note the lower "used and new" prices; £1 = about $1.83)

Interesting indeed...

Rockefeller would have lost his second bet...

The Dutch won the penalty shoot-out?? I'm speechless... I'm told the game wasn't very good, so I guess I didn't miss much. Semifinal 1: Portugal vs. Netherlands on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch the game

Great review David!

I absolutely don't know what to expect from tonight's game.

Sorry to jump in on another linguistic question (such things do fascinate me). I believe that in the English language the word ”Holland” means exactly the same thing as ”the Netherlands”. It’s the same in Swedish; ”Holland” and ”Nederländerna” are synonyms. Words may mean different things in different languages even if they have a common etymological origin. For example, ”Dutch” is the same word etymologically as ”Deutsch” (and ”duits” in Dutch, I believe?), but they have come to mean different things for historical reasons. Another analogous example would be the Finnish word ”Saksa” which means ”Germany” and not just ”Saxony”. Holland is the name of the most important province of the Republic of the United Netherlands (De Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden, 1581-1795), a world power in the late 16th and 17th Centuries, and that's probably why "Holland" is (still) a synonym for "the Netherlands" in several foreign languages. The Dutch equivalent would be "Germaans". German in Dutch is "Duits".

But that's not correct either. Great Britain is the island that includes England, Scotland and Wales. If you add Northern Ireland you get the United Kingdom. You're absolutely right! Officially it's "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". My mistake

With the exception of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, of course.

Good idea.

Absolutely, but the French didn't play well in this tournament and deserved to lose tonight.

The stars playing in those great competitions (Spain, Italy, England, Germany, France) are probably too tired...

What's going on?? First Italy, Spain, Germany and England out, and now France...

Full time: France 0, Greece 1 The Euro 2000 champions go home! Bad game.