Life and times of an Overlord.

Trailers

2006-07-11T13:15:00.000+01:00

Seen a few trailors recently that have got me a little excited. The Transformers teaser didn't exactly show you anything and the movie is still a year away but it got me straight off.
It did what any good teaser does, it teased. It made you want more. It gave you a not quite satisfying enough glimpse of a robot and raised a few questions.
Another is Spider-man 3 which opposite to the TF teaser actually shows quite a bit of footage.
Lots of Spidey in the symbian suite and a glimpse of sandman, plus a few other characters which are going to become quite important in the continuing story. It showed quite a few scenes and gave away a few things(Gwen Stacey) but all in all I liked but again it's a year away.
Last trailer I've just scene was for Rocky Balboa or Rocky 6. It....was.....awesome. Now I'm a big fan of the rocky film (1-4 mainly) and I was already looking forward to this. Now after seeing the trailer I just need to see this film. Rocky looks old, he sounds punch drunk but you can still see the spark there, the desire, the heart that got Rocky his shot. it seems they've done the wise thing and not ignored the fact he's old. it looks brilliant and looks like they have captured what made Rocky so good in the first place.

The Marvel Universe

2006-07-06T09:56:00.000+01:00

Now I'm not a huge comic geek or anything(although some times I wish I was, comic geek seem to be in vogue right now) but I do enjoy a good graphic novel.
I only began reading them a few years back when I purchased The Crow, the graphic novel that spawned the movie. This was an awesome book and set the flame burning. Since then I've read a few books each from the 100 bullets series and a few from the Preacher series, plus some Frank miller stuff and also some Kevin Smith books(I am a Kevin Smith Geek)
I'd never really got into the whole super hero thing though, I love Batman but he's not a superhero. Then some one at work started bring in Marvel comics to read. I didn't think they could be as dark or engaging as the adult oriented books I'd been reading. I couldn't have been more wrong. Marvel is doing some awesome stuff right now with some of the best art work I've ever seen. 2 series stand out for me from what I've read so far. The Ultimates series and the Civil War series which has just started.
The Ultimates is brilliant bringing what I believed to be tired and outdated superheros like Captain America right back into the 21st century. The art is great and the story is gripping. They're all amazingly paced and keep you gripped and wanting more at the end.
The Civil war story arc which I said just started is looking to be awesome. All the well known and not so well known Superheros are there and split down the middle. Captain America leading one side Iron man leading the other and leading them to what looks like one big ass super hero fight. It's so exciting. If you're the least bit interested in comics or graphic novels I urge you to try some of the new Marvel stuff. It's amazing.

Speed cameras

2006-06-28T14:42:00.000+01:00

Felt like coming here and expressing my views on speed camera's.
Now my opinion has always been that if you obey the law and stay at or under the speed limit camera's shouldn't concern you. People moan that they're just a money making scheme for the police, but the police can only make money because people break the law. Normal law abiding citizens begin ranting about the unjust nature of speed cameras. I never understood how they could make the argument. Surely if people break the law they should be punished in some way?
I still feel pretty much the same bar one thing I now realize that we are overly dependent on them. Speed camera's will generally catch people who are passing through an area or people who are feeling a little absent minded. This doesn't catch the worst offenders though, the people who live in the area and know the locations of cameras. These people will happily speed around fully secure in the knowledge that they know where the camera's are.
I will never be against speed camera's if you speed you should be punished but I don't believe they can solve the problem of speeding.
If it were up to me I'd but restrictions on engine sizes and little chips in the cars and all speed limit sign posts which will make it impossible to speed. If you're caught bypassing the chips you risk heavy penalties.
I'm sure no one likes that idea but it's the only way I feel we can solve speeding.

The annoying habits of women

2006-06-26T10:41:00.000+01:00

So after 3 odd years of pretty much no meaningful contact with a women I'm now pretty fed up with them.
If you didn't read my earlier trials and tribulations with a certain girl read that this will make more sense.
So after telling this girl to leave me alone she appeared when I came back on holiday and began to talk to me. That annoyed me but not only that she started flirting with the guy who sits next to me. Now I was prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt over being an evil scheming bitch but now I'm not, she's an evil scheming bitch and cock tease. She pretends to be Lesbian some times to get attention and then gives everyone who gives her the time of day the come on. Luckily the guy who sits next to me is already well aware of the way she works and has made his point of view clear.
Secondly is another women. A girl I've been sleeping with for over 4 years give or take. We've now decided to try and make more of it, I'm not sure it'll work but I'll try. But she's got this guy trying it on all the time. They had some thing a few months back and now he keeps contacting her. So while I'm round she's barely talking to me and everytime her phone beeps she's leaping to answer it. Of course this pisses me off. Now she won't see me tonight because she's going in the shower. She has the whole day off but she must go in this evening. Now knowing her I think this is probably true(She's a little strange) but there is a part of me that thinks some thing not quite right is going on. I'm a jealous type as it is.
Oh yeah and she's going bowling with him and a load of others on Saturday. Yip.....E

The Holiday is over

2006-06-22T14:10:00.000+01:00

I'm back after a week away from work. I'd hoped to have lots of interesting stories about what I got up to during my time off but I ended up sitting in front of the TV all week.(Although it is a very big TV at the moment, more on that later)
I did go to Alton Towers though which was good fun, the new rides are all pretty good. One big gripe though. It's not worth the price anymore. Â£30 a ticket and then Â£4 parking for what is in actual fact about 5 minutes actual ride time. That's considering it's busy and you only get to go on the bigger rides because the ques are all an hour long. I can'believeve they're actually allowed to charge to park.Rubbish. We had buy one get one free tickets so it wasn't as bad.

As for the TV well it's more the living room wall, my Flat mate Paul(See his Blog) borrowed a projector from his dad. It'truly awesome. We've had Goldeneye on there, we've had Fightnight on the 360, the boxers are like 6 feet tall. We've had a couple of movies on it, the highlight for me being Star wars and of course we've had the football on there.
I really don't know how I'll cope with a normal TV now.

Transformers: The "new" movie

2006-06-13T12:20:00.000+01:00

Found out yesterday that they've started work on a live action Transformers movie. Obviously the Transformers themselves will be CGI(although I did hear that they had considered having people in suites. Not sure I believe that though)
I really want to think this movie will be great but as much as I try and convince myself I can't get over the fact I'm not 8 anymore and we're talking about robots from space.
If you want to experience some of the funniest discussion ever heard, head on over to the IMDB Transformers message board. It's full of angry guys that must be at least in their mid 20's to remeber G1 Transformers(the original) bitching about the fact this movie may not live up to their childhood memories.
Most complaints seem to be about which tranformers should or should not appear which must have always been a concern for the filmakers. You obviously can't have them all, so who do you choose.
I'm looking forward to this film a lot but I'm pretty sure it'll be rubbish but maybe in a good trashy way(Micheal Bay directing). I know it won't live up to my childhood memories but nothing ever would. That's the problem with theses remakes of childhood classics, they can't possibly live up to what people remember as a child. You're imagination is in overdrive as a kid and all those memories are boosted because as a kid you can believe in these things. Now as adults it's harder to suspend that disbelief and just immerse yourself in the world that's been created for you.
It's one of the things I most miss about childhood, the fact that I can't just loose myself in my imagination anymore.

Swift cover and Big brother

2006-06-12T14:06:00.000+01:00

Just 2 little gripes I feel I need to get off my chest. Swift cover are the car insurance people who advertise the fact they have no call centers so obviously their service must be better.
Well working in a call centre type environment them showing call centre staff as chickens was bound to cause some offence. That's not my main problem though. I'm a realist, I'm aware if how difficult call centers can be, never talking to the same person, missing information, information that hasn't been noted properly, name less, faceless people who really sound like they want to be some where else. But they are a necessary evil for all large company's who offer services to a large number of people. A company like Vodafone who I work for would not be able to offer the amount of customer service needed if it weren't for call centers.
Swift cover and a few other company's are now not using call centers at all so I'm guessing all is done over web pages and email, great until you have to wait 3 days for a response to the simplest of requests. There are already many companies out there who solely use email to help customers and from my experience and from the experience of people I know they are a nightmare. Slow to respond and difficult to get any sense out of.
There's no accountability with emails. With a phone call you have no choice but to talk to the customer, you have to solve their problem else they just won't go. With email they can decide whether or not to respond and you're just sat there waiting like a lemon. Sorry Swift cover tell me you'll cut my insurance and we may talk, but I'm not convinced when I can't call up and shout when you fuck my claim up.

Now on to the Hell that is Big brother. Now I'm doing exactly what they want. I'm talking about it but that's the genius of Big brother, love it or hate it you feel the need to make comment.
This years Big brother unlike the previous ones holds no appeal for me. In previous years I've been ready to ignore it but then slowly I get a little sucked in as the show unfolds. Not happening this year. From what I've heard and the little I've seen these housemates are utterly unlikable.
The one thing I want to mention though is how these are supposed to be a cross section of the country!!! I've never met anyone even closely resembling any of those people and I've lived all over this country. These people are not normal people, they do not represent the public at large, they're caricatures and the sad thing is they think they mean some thing.
I was off work last week and flicked across to big brother. It's the middle of the day and they're sat in the garden about to eat. A perfectly normal scene. Then you notice that all of them are dressed to the nines, they're all done up to their trendy maximum and this isn't for a challenge or anything, just for lunch. This made me truly realize these people are not all this country is about. If me or any one I know went into that house I guarantee we'd take, 2 T-shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, a pair of trousers, 2 pairs of socks and 2 pairs of boxers. Wash my other stuff while I'm wearing one set.
You wouldn't see me wearing shoes or trainers for the entire time I was in their.
I know these people are on TV but it's ridiculess.
Moan over I guess. Sorry if the entire thing is a bit scattered, trying to do it quickly during my lunch.

Mission Impossible 3

2006-06-08T12:19:00.000+01:00

Went to see MI3 the other day and this is what I thought.
I didn't like the first film and didn't care much for the second either and I don't much care for Tom Cruise(Unless he's in Top Gun....I'm totally not gay.) So I didn't go into this expecting much, the tickets were free and I like to watch films so why not give it ago.
I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. MI3 is awesome it starts perfectly setting the scene perfectly for the rest of the film. Cruise is Cruise through out and it's Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman who really shines through out. His bad guy is the badest bad guy for a while. An unassuming guy to look at everytime he opens his mouth it's to speak evil and threaten poor Cruise and his loverly fiancee. He's truly scary with out ever really doing anything.
The golden touch of JJ Abrams continues as his direction in this is perfect action movie stuff. The set pieces are mostly big and very well pulled off. There isn't just one that stands out though each set piece wouldn't look out of place as the climax to most other action films we've seen recently.
All in all I have to say I haven't enjoyed a throw away action in years, it's not quite in the league with commando but it's very good all the same.

Mallrats: Extended edition

2006-05-26T14:26:00.000+01:00

So I got the new 10th anniversary edition of Mallrats for Christmas. Now I was a little disappointed with it for one big reason it was a double sided disk. I just don't understand that. Just months Earlier they'd released the 10th anniversary Clerks in a 2 disk form, why not Mallrats? After getting over that initial disappointment I then had a look at some of the extra stuff and apart from a look back at mallrats and the new Extended cut of the film everything was pretty much the same as on my universal collectors edition(Yes I'm a sucker, I buy shiny new versions of things)
So I didn't really touch it for a while, thought about selling it. But then the other night I had nothing to watch so decided to put on the new version to see what they'd done.
Now for a bit of back story. Kevin smith and his long time producer Scott Mossier have edited all of Smith's movies bar this one. According to Kevin Smith's introduction the initial idea was to go back to all the original footage and re edit the film how they would have done. After starting this however Smith discovered that he didn't actually shoot that much coverage and what Paul Dixon(The original editor) had put together was pretty much as good as it would get.
Never the less they decided to carry on regardless and pretty much restore the film to exactly the shooting script.
The main differences all stem from the beggining which is the only thing completely new. If you've seen the deleted scenes on the region 1 Mallrats DVD then you've pretty much seen this already.
From then on there are a few scenes restored that mention this beggining as well as some different takes of familiar scenes. All these changes do make it like watching a different film, a less funny and fast paced but with some unkown quality added. I don't know what it is, I can't put my finger on but after watching it I felt good, I enjoyed it.
This could be down to my love of the film(It was the first film of Smith's I'd ever seen, it started a love affair which hasn't dimmed yet. I'm actually sat at work dressed as silent Bob..No seriously it's fancy dress at work, I really am dressed like Silent Bob. )
Despite not being as funny it felt like I got to know people a little better, there was more time for you to get to know the characters, it seemed to become a little more like smiths other films, it had gained a little bit of heart maybe.
It's a biased opinion I know but it's mine, I'm glad I've watched it now and it's made me feel better about the whole DVD. Still damned double sided though.

I don't really have anything to say.

2006-05-24T08:50:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd post anyway and now I've said I have nothing to say I bet shit loads comes to mind now.....No minds still pretty empty.
It's raining here, a lot. I don't think I've known it rain like this for a while. Apart from yesterday morning/afternoon it's pretty much been raining since Saturday.....So that's something.
I did watch Domino the other day actually. Went round to a friends and it was on Sky box office.
The movie was utter trash and had several cringe worthy moments in it but I think it kind of new how bad it was and it was kinda fun so not a bad experience overall.
I also completed Tomb raider: legend, last night. I suck at games and it only took me six odd hours of gameplay to do. Man I'd pissed if I'd bought it, luckily I've just borrowed it. Despite it's shortness it is a cracking little game. Very user friendly and enjoyable.
Man my life is so god damned interesting, sometimes I'm worried I might just get up to too much....
Any way better get on with what ever I've got to do...Might be back later if like I get hit by lightning or something interesting happens to me.

A bad day in Dantown.

2006-05-18T13:35:00.000+01:00

So I feel like shit and this self indulgent blog is where I've come to vent.
I met a girl called Sami maybe a year ago, I instantly liked her but I found out she had a boyfriend. So I was ok I could deal with that I knew where I stood, it didn't stop me trying to be the nicest guy in the world to her but I didn't really expect anything to happen.
Now she splits up with her boyfriend and my whole world turns upside down. I don't want to rush her or push things but I'd like to know if I have a chance. I decide not to push it. That would be bad. I'd be there for her and then when the time was right some thing would happen.
It's never going to happen. We got talking and it eventually came out that I don't stand a chance.
I don't even know why it bothers me. She's a nightmare, she'd make a terrible girlfriend I just know it but I just can't stop wanting her.
I've now told her I need time away from her, she's all about staying friends but I can't just sit and watch her get happy with some body again.
All in all I'm trying to stay positive. I think this is really the best thing that could of happened....But after three years of single life, I was kinda of excited about maybe having some one again.

Sniff...

I had a car crash!!!!

2006-05-15T12:16:00.000+01:00

Well nearly. On the way to work this morning and the guy behind me in the traffic jam got rear ended so to speak. He missed ramming me by inches.
I was just sat there minding my own business when I hear the screeching of brakes and then that horrible sound of metal bending and plastic breaking. Luckily the car behind me had stopped just to the right of me so when he was hit he moved off to my right. I was pretty shaky but luckily my car was in one piece. I wouldn't of wanted that on a Monday.
I don't know whether it was the adrenalin rush or what but I seem in quite a good mood now, after getting over my shakes anyway.

Gaming, Books and BBQ's

2006-05-08T15:07:00.000+01:00

So again I haven't updated the blog for awhile and started to get moaned at. I'm pretty sure it's just because people need stuff to do when they should be working. (You know who you are)
Any way bought an Xbox360 at the weekend. It's shiny, I like it. Also I've just finished Sellevision. Awesome, awesome book. I don't normally read books I haven't been recommended but I'm glad I took a chance on this one. It's got one of the best opening lines ever and continues to be a joy to read through out. It's not too taxing and the words roll of the page really nicely. Probably the best book I've ever read, just for the sheer enjoyment factor of it.
I've started my next book which really couldn't be further away from Sellevision. American Tabloid by James Ellroy. I've got a little way in and it's pretty much business as usual. High level conspiracies, brutal murders and lots of dirty money. The only other Ellroy books I've read have been LA confidential and Black Dahlia and although they are some times tough to read both were very satisfying and this one is shaping up to be the same. My good friend Alex who lent me the book left me with some worrying words, "This is where Ellroy gets fucked up" I thought Black Dahlia was pretty messed up, god knows what happens in this one.

One final quick note, tried having a BBQ on Saturday with a few friends. It decided to rain us out. Sucks. I hate British weather, it's always lulling you into a false sense of security.
I like my weather to be straight up. Hot or cold, raining or dry, none of this possible showers crap they were talking about before Saturday. We knew there was a risk but the weather people said "possible SHOWERS" When it started it rained for nearly 24 hours straight.
That weather people is not Showers. That's rain.

Anyway I've posted now.

Slight correction

2006-04-25T09:12:00.000+01:00

I just posted a new entry below and realised it said it was monday on it. Now I could change this to say tuesday but then I wouldn't get to vent about my attempts to post the aforementioned entry yesterday. I spent a good deal of works time creating the below post only for it to fail when uploading to the site, then it disappeared. I thought I'd lost it all and i wasn't happy. but then I arrived this morning had a look and there it was. it seemed it had saved after all. Hurrah for Blogger.

That was the weekend that was.

2006-04-24T08:58:00.000+01:00

It's Monday so the weekend has just past. My weekend was mixed, I wanted to get my hair cut but then some one at work said they wanted to work Saturday so I thought I'd bring them in as well cause they really needed the money and It wouldn't hurt my pocket either. Then Friday evening I get a call saying he's had a better offer and wouldn't be coming in. Fricking wonderful, so I dragged my sorry ass in to work only to find that there is only 2 of us now working. That was not good. But in the end we pulled it oput of the bag and kicked ass.
I finished at twelve and headed to Joes house, most of you don't know Joe but he's cool. We sat and watched my new favorite Sci-fi show Firefly and Kiss of the Dragon starring Jet Li which was nice. We shot the shit for a bit, put the world to rights and then I left.
Sunday saw another trip to Nottingham to catch some filmic delights. And what a delight on offer. First film we took in was the one and only Ghostbusters. It was the first time I'd seen it on the big screen and despite the dodgy print the film rocked even more than when I watch it on DVD, about every month. I'll talk more about it in another post.
Second film we saw was The squid and the Whale a film by Noah Baumbach the co-writer of Wes Andersons "Life Aquatic." The first thing to say about this film is that it's characters are not the nicest of people which made it really hard for me to warm to this, if I ever did.
Saying that though I did like it, if it's possible to "like" this film anyway. It charts the breakup of a marriage and the effect that has on both the adults and children involved. Jeff Daniels is a horrible person, he has a high opinion of himself and a low opinion of others. His eldest son is no better, trying to emulate his father in all the worst ways. Laira Linney's mum character is a little more sympathetic but has had at least one affair, but we don't get to see anything about what led up to the breakup so we don't know if anything drove her to adultery, she doesn't seem particularly sorry though. The youngest son has problems, ranging from Masturbating in the library and wiping it on the books to getting wasted at home on his dads beer. Of course this could all be put down the confusing surrounding his parents separation.
I really wanted to feel for these characters because you can see they are going through hell but they are just so unlikable you can't bring yourself to empathise with them.
A good raw film but one which I couldn't get emotionally involved in.

My new MoBlog...

2006-04-20T14:24:00.000+01:00

I've just created a new Moblog..It's like a blog with pictures from your mobile. It's quite addictive too.
http://moblog.co.uk/blogs.php?show=7531
I've only one picture on there at the minute but that should grow very soon. If you want to see it go to above link.
It should turn out to be a nice little visual record of things I do.

Easter....It's that time again.

2006-04-13T14:53:00.000+01:00

So it's almost here Easter.. The celabration of all things chocolate and egg shaped....No wait have I missed the point some where?
This time holds a double edged sword for me at times, well times when I have a girlfriend anyway. If I've got a girlfriend around Easter we always end up having the same conversation.
Me: Would you mind if I didn't get you an Easter egg?
(A slightly confused and hurt look comes across her face)
Girl: What? Why wouldn't you want to get me an egg?
Me: Well it's a little bit disrespectful isn't it.
(More confused looks and a not so hurt but angry expression.)
Girl: Why is buying me an Easter egg disrespectful?
Me: Well we're kind taking this very important Christian festival and using it as an excuse to buy each other egg shaped confectionery.

At this point she usually starts to well up.
Girl: Well if you don't think I'm worth buying a fucking Easter egg for you coulda just said.

and then she storms out. Now it's not always like that but you get the idea.
It just seems that even if your a non Christian you can't get away from taking part in their celebrations.
"Your not buying any Easter eggs this year!! What's wrong with you"
"I'm not Christian"
"What has that got to do with it.."

That seems to me to be the attitude of many people nowadays. I feel a little sorry for real Christians who have seen the celebration of the resurrection of their Lord Jesus Christ boiled down to some thing completely and utterly unrecognizable from it's origins. You get shot for mentioning Jesus or a cross or resurrection in the same sentence as Easter now.
Shops can't use any religious imagery to promote goods of a supposed religious holiday.
The whole thing is very messed up and I think the US and the UK are the worst offenders.

Three Burials and a River.

2006-04-12T11:17:00.000+01:00

Went to the cinema on Sunday, watched 2 films. One good one not so Good.
First the River. Made in 1951 by Jean Renoir this was supposed to be some kind of classic. It was I guess in some ways a classic. A classically bad film...haha. Yeah great joke there. But seriously I didn't really enjoy this. It was pretty dull through out and although only had like an hour and 45 running time seemed to drag on sooo long. The characters are flat and dull and despite being set in Indian the Direction is dull and the scenery is dull. The acting is atrocious and the script was hammy and clunky and crap(yes I know I need to extend my vocabulary.)
The second film was The Three burials of Melquiades Estrada. The directorial debut of Mr Tommy Lee Jones and he does a solid enough job. Not a lot of flair, very workman like. Very much the same as Jones. The story centers around Jones' Pete and old Rancher who's best friend and illegal Mexican immigrant is shot and killed by a border guard. The police want nothing to do with it and refuse to investigate. Stuck in a corner Pete kidnaps the border guard, makes him dig Melquiades up and then embarks on a cross country horse back ride across to Mexico to bury Melquiades in his home town.
The film explores the clashes between the old and the new, the changing lives of all rural peoples and the sad situations when people die and no one cares. The film is emotional, funny and thought provoking and ultimately satisfying.
Not a great film but a good one none the less. It's only on limited release but catch it if you can.

Vicky and Adrienne

2006-04-10T13:13:00.000+01:00

So although not completely off the wall, my weekend was pretty entertaining. Went out on Friday night which I don't do very often. We started in the hole that is Newark(if you don't know it, please don't try and find out.) It was a guy at works leaving do and office politics kinda decided I should go even though I've never spoken to him before. After about an hour in this little room they'd hired at the back of a dirty pub four of us left and went to carry on our night in the slightly nicer and more familiar Lincoln. We got into Llyods about ten and began drinking in earnest again. Llyods isn't the greatest place on Earth but then no bar ever will be but they do serve cheap drinks. Â£1.65 for a Jim Beam and coke!!!Justt too good to turn down.
I'd noticed these 2 girls wandering around not out of lust or longing just one looked far too young to be in there and the other looked far too drunk. A little while later they sat behind us and then it happened. They came and sat down next to us...The young looking not so drunk one was called Vicky the ugly as sin(no offence) blasted of her face one, I think, was called Adrienne.
Apparently Vicky was actually 18 so more than legal although she did look young and was slightly strange. Adrienne was 22 although she looked about 40 and like to spit on you when she slurred at you(difficult to call it speech) Any how after a while Adrienne went off to the toilet and left Vicky there. We had a talk it was all very nice, she seemed cool after all if still a littleweirdd. Then the DJ piped up that some girl was passed out in the ladies and they were looking for her friends. As I listened to this Vicky kept chatting at me. "I think that might be your friend. We haven't seen her in a while"Ii said. "I don't know. Shedisappearss all the time when we go out. On new years eve we went out and she disappeared, didn't come back until she wanted the house keys."
A little worried by Vickysnonchalantt attitude to her friends disappearing act I just nodded and kept sipping theJimm.(insert gay joke here) about 10 minutes later we heard the same announcement from the Dj. "Look I really think you should go check if that's your friend." I said.
This time Vicky decided that maybe she should go and check. So she got her coat and wondered off to the toilets. As she left I thought to myself, "Damn should of got her number. Hopefully it's not her friend and she'll come back." Yes she was only 18, yes she was a little weird and yes she had a dog ugly friend but she seemed interesting. You don't find interesting people very often.
Of course it was her friend. Sprawled out on the toilet flaw twitching by all accounts. The ambulance came and picked her up and as they brought Adrienne down stairs from the toilet and went to see if I could speak to Vicky again. I was stood behind her as she came down the stairs. Adrienne was white as a sheet and still out cold. Poor Vicky looked pretty shook up. I decided it wasn't the most sensitive thing to do, asking for a girls number as she gets in the ambulance with her sick friend.
We stayed and drunk a bit more and then left getting home about half one time. We sat back with a cuppa tea and a few spliffs and watched Ong Bak until about half four when everyone went to bed. I was staying in the living room so I rolled myself another spliff and watched Fraiser at 4.30 Saturday morning. It was one I hadn't seen and it was goooood

Syriana

2006-04-07T15:58:00.000+01:00

So to Georges second offering in quick succession. He has a little less to do in this as he's just one of the many stars and not directing. It follows several different characters from several different worlds who are all in some way affected by the oil industry, from the biggest oil company exec to an Iranian prince and a lowly disillusioned teenager. Syriana is the directorial debut of traffic scribe Stephen Gaghan. Gaghan provides the script for this too and it's all very familiar in content and also a little more surprisingly style. I did like Sryiana but unlike Matador where I'd find it hard to pin point things I didn't like and Good night and good luck where there are no things I dislike, Syriana does have it's bad points. Like traffic it's some times a difficult film to follow as it shifts between it's different characters and locations. Although all the acting is top dollar because of the constant shifting of locale and personals it makes it difficult to identify with all the players. Clooney, maybe because he has the most interesting character and story pulls this off the best.
I enjoyed this film though, first time I saw Traffic I wasn't at all convinced but Syriana gripped me and despite early troubles of remembering who everyone was I eventually got to grips with it all.
If you liked Traffic you'll like this. If you've never seen Traffic watch this first and if you watched Traffic and didn't like it then this may not be for you. But if like me you didn't like traffic the first time you saw it but then watched it again and decided, actually yes this isn't bad, then I like you'd like Syriana.
Peace out.

Good Night and Good Luck..

2006-04-06T12:33:00.000+01:00

I must admit to not knowing a huge amount about McCarthy era America. I know they didn't like communists and I know the cold war was in full swing. I knew absolutely nothing About Ed Morrow though until I heard that Clooney was making a film about him and his issues with Mr McCarthy. It got some positive buzz though and Mr Crawford highly recommended it so when the chance to see it arose I decided to go for it.
I really enjoyed this film, it was interesting, engaging and Intelligent. It had a lot of things to say that I may self feel are very relevant in today's world. The film is opened and finished with Mr Morrow making a speech to I think some TV industry bigwigs in which he underlines how important TV can and should be if used correctly, which I whole heartedly agree with.
I love television and film and think they can be used in such better ways than they currently are. TV should be used for entertainment and information and in the current hunt for ratings I feel the quality interesting and intelligent programs are being forgot about in order to accommodate one more brainless reality/gameshow.
I'm all for stupid TV I've spent many an hour sat in front of the TV watching Takeshi's castle, which isn't exactly mentally strenuous viewing. It's just I'd like a choice.
I've kinda gone of the point here haven't I... The films shot in glorious black and white and it really feels like your in the studio with these guys. The acting is all top notch and Clooneys direction is flawless, very simple but very effective. A nice little period touch is the fact every one in the film smokes, constantly. It takes you back to a time when smoking was what cool people did, not a habit that will eventually lead to your horrible death.
The films really good, see it if you can.

The Matador

2006-04-05T14:55:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd start my run down of the films I'd seen recently with the first one out of the bunch I've seen in the last few weeks. Makes sense really when you think about it.
First thoughts on coming out of the cinema afterwards were, "yeah I liked that..Not really sure why" Matador follows pierce Brosnan's slightly, shall we say fucked up hitman. He's loosing his touch and wants a break but as we all know it's not that easy when you're a hitman.
Greg Kinnear plays a struggling business man looking to get his break in Mexico city when he meets Brosnan. They form a kind of disfunctional friendship during their brief stay(Brosnan naturally doesn't have a lot of friends being a hitman so doesn't have great social skills. He tries to start telling a joke as Kinnear is telling him about his dead son)
Once back on home soil Kinnear and his wife are living happily enough when Brosnan shows up at their home in the middle of night. He eventually reveals why he's there. In order to save his live he needs Kinear to help him kill one last person.
I don't want to say much more, I don't want to ruin it for people not because I'll spoil any surprises It's just I have a hard time making things sound interesting.
This film was compared a lot to Grosse point Blank and I can see why, not so much in the overall story but in the whole "I liked that but I don't really know why."
Both films seem to make me feel the same after I've watched them. They both have some very funny moments but both feel a little light some where.
Brosnan is great in this, a real delight seeing him let go after bond and the opening scene in which he lampoons his old pals way with the ladies.
It's funny to say but seeing Brosnan, stressed, a little wired and technically loosing it. All in all a good movie. But I'm not sure why really.......I really suck at this film review thingy.
Go to Crawford on film for a proper review. He got on Brosnans official website with his Matador review.

Snakes on a MuthaF**king plane!!!

2006-04-04T14:09:00.000+01:00

See told you I'd be back. I had to tell the masses about this. If you haven't read my good friend Alex's "Crawford on film" blog then you're in for a real treat.
Samuel L Jackson is to star in "Snake on a plane.." and it's actually what says in the title. Snakes are actually going to be on a plane. The blurb says that a deadly assassin gets on a flight intent on killing his target, then he releases a load of poisonous snakes. I for one I'm wetting my self about this film and may display half wood at times when thinking about how great it good be.

Long time no sea Hombre..

2006-04-04T13:39:00.000+01:00

Hazarr I'm back. After having been moaned at by three separate people that I hadn't posted for a while I've got my ass in to gear to write this. It's amazing really 3!!! people apparently bothered enough about these ramblings to mention that I hadn't posted in a while. It almost gives you hope for humanity.
I've been actually busy at work so I haven't had chance to post(screw doing it on my own time)
I've seen a few films since we last spoke. The Matador, Good night and good luck and Syriana. I'll put my thoughts together on those in another post, save this one becoming long and more dull.
The only other real thing of merit to put down in writing is that I'm now sporting a spiffy semi-beard. It's not quite a beard as I have pathetic facial hair but as I leave shaving longer and longer the semi-beard goes from strength to strength. In fact you could probably call it a three quarter beard by now. Apparently it suites me so that's good to. Any way I've posted now so the masses will get off my back. I promise to back sooner rather than later....

Be published

2006-03-08T12:44:00.000+01:00

I was doing my normal morning browse of the BBC news website today, trying to avoid work when I came across an article about the very first awards for books that have come from blogs. So awards for people who turned there Blogs into the form of a book. The sponsors of this event were what got my attention. A site call lulu where you can publish for free you work. It kinda works like the t-shirt shops my fellow blog friends have and I should have but haven't been arsed to finish it. You write your book send it to lulu who will put it online for people to download or if they want order it as book to come through the post. Obviously Lulu will take a small cut of what ever you sell but that will happen whoever publishes your work. I think this is a brilliant idea. The writing world is so difficult to get into, it's so difficult just to get some one to look at your work let alone agree to get it out in the open.
I'm so impressed I might write a book.
go here if you want to stretch your literary wings. www.lulu.com/uk

My Wonderful Weekend.

2006-03-06T15:06:00.000+01:00

Or not... Well it was ok I guess. Worked Saturday morning trying to earn some extra pennies. Went to a mates later beat him at pro evo a few times and then went into town where another mate bought Need for Speed on his PSP. He's already got the gamer on the Xbox but still felt the need to buy it again. Pointless in my eyes but you know "it's on a different format" and all that Jazz.
Went to Nottingham on Sunday. Didn't get shot which was good but did get some new trainers. Also good. I bought some brown Vans. I haven't had Vans in years so thought I'd go a little old school. Good choice as well very comfy. Not a lot to write about at the minute hence me writing about what I did at the weekend. I wanted to write about the Oscars and what I got up to at the Oscar party I went to. Sadly work wouldn't give today off so no Oscar party for me just an early night and Pamela.

My Sunday in Church

2006-03-02T10:33:00.000+01:00

Went to a Christening on Sunday. This obviously made me a little uncomfortable. Not the Christening it's self more the sitting together and chanting about God and Jesus. I didn't take part in the ceremony. I sat there and said nothing. This I did so as not to disrespect Christianity. I may not agree or even like religion but there are many people who take these things very seriously including members of my family. I didn't take part because I don't believe and I felt it would be disrespectful to say these words with out belief.
It was a nice 15 minutes, which was all it took. The children behaved, the vicar was a friendly and very nice lady and everyone seemed happy.
Just one worrying part was that all the passages and things we were asked to speak were all about submitting to God and Jesus.
It just showed me that despite all the updating of the church to reflect a modern society it's still all about control. The power of the few to control the many through a god.

Linda Smith - RIP

2006-03-01T16:48:00.000+01:00

We all heard the bad news yesterday of the untimely passing of comedian Linda Smith.
I enjoyed everyone's I watched or listened featuring this very talented women. Unfortunately I only really discovered her in the last year and am very saddened that I won't be hearing her again. The suddenness of it all has really taken me aback I had no idea she was even ill.
Not much else I can really say but I just wanted to express my sadness about the passing of this very talented women.

Dancing and DVD'S

2006-02-24T13:39:00.000+01:00

Haven't really had much to say this week. Maybe the whole "Not really dancers" thing has forced me to keep my head down. The post didn't cause wide spread condemnation but that could be to do with the fact only about 5 people look at my blog with any interest. What has happened is that everyone I've mentioned this to pretty much disagrees with me. I still don't agree but I don't think I'll be able to get a petition put together to make Nike change the advert. Not even my "I've drive a car, does that make me a racing driver" analogy didn't sway anyone.
Oh well on a happier note I did get £40 worth of HMV vouchers from work because I rock, so on Saturday I popped down to His Masters Voice to spend my not very hard earned vouchers. To my utter joy there was a 3 DVD's for £20 offer so I was able to pick up six top quality films without spending a penny of my own cash.
I got Dead mans Shoes a brilliant little British movie from Shane Meadows. It's a revenge thriller type deal set just outside Nottingham. It goes from laugh out loud to brutal murder and then back again. A dark film but probably my favorite ever British film.
Then I picked up The Station Agent. An excellent little American Indie film about Finbar, a man born with Dwarfism. He works in a model railway store with his only friend. When that friend dies he Leave Fin a small, old an disused station in the middle of rural New jersey. This suits Fin fine as he doesn't connect well with people. Before long though all that changes as he meets 2 people that seemingly refuse to let him live in peace. A brilliant film about friendship, it'll leave you feeling very good about every thing. Maybe
The next 2 films I got were Hero and House of Flying Daggers both directed by Yimou Zhang and both beautifully shot martial arts movies. Flying daggers is one of the best looking films I've ever seen and if your a martial arts movie fan then you need to see both of these. Hero first though remember.
I then picked up Napoleon Dynamite which I'm sure most people have heard of this but if you haven't it's worth a watch. It's an offbeat comedy which had me chuckling through out. I really like it but it's one of those films I find difficult to recommend because I know it's not a film for everyone It's odd but well worth a watch in my eyes.
Last but most defiantly not least is the Breakfast Club. Quality John Hughes fare from the eighties. If you haven't seen it do, if you've seen it and don't like it then Pah to you.
That is all I need to say about that.

Walk the Line

2006-02-20T16:59:00.000+01:00

Went to see Walk the line on Thursday. I'd been looking forward to it for a while now and so went into with much anticipation. I wasn't disappointed either. Not being a huge Johnny Cash fan, I like his music but I don't own anything and I knew nothing about his life before hand, I was worried it may have less impact or some of it would go over my head. Well it didn't the film would work without being about Johnny Cash. In essence it's a Love story told over many years. These people we know should be together just can't seem to do it and even though you know that all works out great in the end it's still nervous time but enjoyable time.
Acting was first class old Whack-whim did a wonderful job as Cash and not being a Johnny Cash swat I didn't notice anything that was slightly wrong. As for Greasy Reesey she wasn't half bad either. I don't mind Greasy as a performer but I've heard bad things about her as a person(who knew not getting cast in Mallrats would upset some one) . She did a very good job here though
and from a male perspective may not have looked better.
One thing I did notice about the film, and I don't know whether this was Cash or the Filmakers but some one seems to have it in for Elvis. He's only in it for the briefest of periods but in that time is pretty much blamed for all the problems Johnny Cash later has, i.e the amphetamine addiction. I don't know how much truth there is to this but it made me chuckle to see some one acknowledge that Elvis was no saint. You don't see that very often.
Well done all round though. Top Bananas.

Nike...Just do it.

2006-02-20T13:41:00.000+01:00

Has anyone else seen the new Nike Advert aimed at the female market? You know the one with different dancers doing their thang..and then saying to camera "Try telling me I'm not an Athlete"
Ok love. You're not an athlete. You're a dancer. I'm not saying your not physically fit, I'm not saying you couldn't be an athlete I'm just saying your not because you aren't...You're a dancer. Athletes compete against fellow athletes in races or the like. Dancers dance, and very rarely in competition, unless it's on trouble TV.
You don't here A sprinter coming to speak to the camera's after his/her victorious race and saying "Now try telling me I'm not a dancer" You'd wouldn't know what the hell he was talking about.
So no offense ladies, you're all very good at what you do obviously and could beat my ass at most things but Nike, it's a stupid advert because these women aren't athletes they're quite clearly dancers....JAZZ HANDS....(Not so good without the visuals but you know what I'm doing.)

New Bond girl

2006-02-17T18:12:00.000+01:00

The new Bond girl has been announced...Now I'm not usually one to get excited or even the slight bit interested in the casting of Bond films but for this I'll make an exception because the new Bond girl is one Eva Green. Now Ms Green first came to my attention in the Dreamers. Her first film role. It was Filthy and I fell in love with her. She's gorgeous and I came away from the film with a very positive opinion of her. No it wasn't just cause I saw her "boobs" although I have to admit it may of helped.

Also saw Walk the Line last night but more of that later. Peace.

The Da Vinci effect

2006-02-16T11:38:00.000+01:00

Now I know the whole Da Vinci code story is pretty much old news now but with the up coming release of the movie the stories are again circulating and as part of the film was filmed in my humble little city(That's right mine) I feel the need to talk about it. Also it concerns Catholics and people in general being stupid so that's always fun too.
Opus Dei the terrible bad guys of Dan Browns The Da Vinci code have come out and asked for all "references that hurt Catholics" to be removed from the film. Now is it me or would that make a really short movie and besides Catholics do enough to hurt themselves so one little film won't make much difference.
I never got all the hype surrounding the book, I mean the Vatican actually appointed a cardinal to go around and talk to be people about how the Da Vinci code was fake. A book that you buy in the "Fiction" section of the book shop. The clues are in the name. This book IS a work of fiction hence why it sells in the fiction section. Dan Brown has done a very clever thing here. As soon as the talk started and he knew people were gullible enough he started doing interviews stating that there is evidence of this and that and you just know he didn't buy any of what he was saying.
The thing with the book and the key to it's success is that it makes stupid people feel clever. The book is nothing more than a holiday read but because it deals with religion and conspiracies people catch on to it and think by reading it they're interlectual. I read the book from cover to cover in about a week and I will say one thing about Dan Brown and that is he knows how to write a page turner. The contents though is pifel. I'm not very good with riddles and codes but even I knew where they had to look before they did.
I think the reaction of the Vatican has helped the book immensely though because as we all know people love things that are controversial. I'm not saying there was no bloodline of Christ, and I'm not saying that Da Vinci didn't draw a female next to Jesus in the last supper he may have done. It's just the evidence in The Da Vinci code is as the book, fiction.
The Priory of Zion was created in the 1920's I think by a strange French man that though he was related to the merivingians. There are many strange stories revolving around the Knights Templar but nothing can be confirmed.
In my eyes there will be some one some where related in some small way to Jesus. He had brothers who would have had children and I can't believe for a second that Jesus never knocked boots with anyone his entire life. There are huge parts of Jesus' life that aren't documented in the bible and as a sensible man I can't see how he as a Jewish man never married or even slept with a woman.
Son of God or not, man has needs.

Now terrorist will feel the fear....

2006-02-16T10:48:00.000+01:00

After yesterdays story about Lou "the Hulk" Ferrigno becoming a part time cop, today sees the story of Batman taking on Osama Bin Laden and Al Queeda. Yes that's right folks, the capped crusade is taking on terrorism. Frank Miller the scribe of such classics as Batman: Year One and the Sin city stories is writing a new Batman comic where the bat takes on Osama and friends after Gotham is attacked 9/11 style.
Frank Miller is a master at what he does. I'm sure every one has heard of Sin city and if you like comics and haven't read any of his previous Batman work you're missing out. I'm still a little worried however that this could just turn out to be a bad propaganda piece for the US and if it wasn't in such good hands I would say it was straight out but as it's miller and as it's my favorite hero(He's not a superhero people, he has no superpowers) Batman I think it'll turn out a dark morality tale about Americas attitudes towards terrorism and their reactions to it. Or it might just be Batman kicking ass either way with Miller there it should be one hell of a ride.

Criminals fear again.

2006-02-15T11:04:00.000+01:00

Hooray...The streets of LA of safe at last. The Incredible hulk has passed his training and is now a part time police officer in Los Angeles. Well Lou Ferrigno has anyway but I like to think he is the hulk. Actually no I down right KNOW he's the Hulk. Can you just imagine being some smacked up purse snatcher, you grab and bag and leg it only to run straight into the barrel chest of the incredible hulk. You'd just wet yourself. I wonder if he'll go around AS the Hulk, all green and shit. That'd be even better. In fact I'd pay to see that.
Any way good on Lou and lets hope he doesn't get angry, those criminals wouldn't like him if he was angry.

Every thing looks better after a good nights sleep.

2006-02-07T10:40:00.000+01:00

12 glorious hours and sweet slumber and I awake feeling partially human again. Work, in their unbelievable show of kindness let me leave a whole hour early yesterday and by seven thirty I was out like a light. I also realized some thing quite worrying. Since Saturday I've taken some kind of pain killer every 4 or so hours. You're not supposed to exceed 8 in 24 hours. This fact may have also have had some baring on me yesterday as I struggled to stay awake.
My mouth still hurts, I've only got 2 painkillers because I don't want to hurt my liver any more.
I'm not tired but this could be a very long day.

Last one I promise

2006-02-06T14:48:00.000+01:00

I just needed to show people this letter from the hate mail. It shows to me that their clearly isn't a God. If there was people like this wouldn't be tolerated. Below is one of the worst letters on the page. Not just in it's content but also on the fact it was written by an obvious idiot who should of been at school instead of having the bible read to him. Nutter.

There the KKK, there's youThere was Hitler, there's youThere are Satanic beliefs, there's youThere are un-American bigots, there's youThere are the un-Godly + damned, there's youAll that's vile comes from you. You teach hatred and prejudice. You insult Christians, especially Catholics. How Satanic!! Yet you demand respect + are quick to yell prejudice. How can you expect what you don't give?
You teach hatred, you insult others, yet, demand respect. Hitler didnt die, your still doing his hatreds and works.
Are you aware you're un-American? You demand your rights you demand + so on, but insult others + their beliefs. How low-down and hateful! May God judge your terrible acts. To get respect you must give it + you are cowards + highly prejudiced

In the words of Kevin Smith, all this over a movie with a giant rubber poop monster in it.

A bit more on religion

2006-02-06T14:41:00.000+01:00

What I don't get about the whole thing is why these people are so bothered about what mere mortals say about their God. It's the same with all this violence of the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. These people are threatening to kill anyone who disrespect their religion.
Why should they care what people say. If you are so convinced in your belief then it shouldn't matter what anyone else says. If we're all doomed to hell because we don't believe then that's our fault. All these smart Catholics can just live safe in the knowledge that God will take care of them.
If it's ok to tell people that God exists, why is it so bad to say he doesn't?
It's the closed mindedness that gets my goat.

Why I hate Religion

2006-02-06T14:09:00.000+01:00

Check it out; http://www.viewaskew.com/dogma/hate/

These insights into the catholic mind set go some way to explaining my problems with religion.
And that's all religion not just Catholicism. They just make it easy for me.

None of these people has even seen the film, all of them obviously did not know Kevin Smith was brought up and still is Catholic. People are free to do what they want in my eyes that includes worshipping any God they see fit. I just don't like it when they feel it's their right to change what every one else chooses to do.

What a weekend. I think I'm going to die!!!

2006-02-06T12:19:00.000+01:00

So we begin with a little back story...I'm suffering from tooth ache and have been doing since last week. I tried to get an appointment with my dentist but was told I hadn't been recently so they chucked me from the books. Rubbish. No where is taking NHS dental patients meaning I'm having to find some where private which also isn't easy. But on the plus the pain seemed to have passed by Friday and I headed out to a gig in Grimsby. It was at a little place called the matrix, a nice venue for small DIY gigs. Head lining were Swedish band Jeniferever, a great band who have a unique sound. Some where between Sigor Ros and The Mars volta maybe. They deal in sound scapes and music that just envelopes you.
The support was pretty good, two solo acoustics and another band called the City ghosts. They featured a lead female vocalist who I'm now in love with. Possibly one of the greatest looking women I've ever seen. Any way the gig was good I enjoyed myself. Come Saturday night however and my tooth ache came back and stayed back, all night, and all day Sunday. In all I've been awake for about 38 hours out of the last 48. I'm now at work, my mouth is killing me, I'm slightly out of it through sleep deprivation.
To add to this my car failed it's MOT on Saturday. Now I've got to get it fixed and retested by next Saturday and work are being awkward about me booking a day off to get it fixed. Now this pisses me off but if it comes to next Monday and my car isn't MOT'd then I can't come to work. The only place I'm driving that car to after the weekend is the garage. I won't break the law for work. screw that.
I keep getting dizzy now.....I want to go home....

Is the media racist?

2006-01-28T11:35:00.000+01:00

Racist, sexist, classist(if there is such a thing.) Although people seem to have been rather shocked by the recent comment by sir Ian Blair, head of the metropolitan police, I for one am not. It's been clear to me for some time that the media and admittedly newspapers mainly, are only after serving their own agenda. They pick news that will sell papers. Stories that they can mould.
But again this shouldn't surprise anyone as it's the in their interests to have high sales. Although it doesn't surprise me it does worry me. This conflict of interests in the long run doesn't help any one other than the editors. Papers have political alliances they only report news that is of interest to their political views. I don't entirely agree with what Sir Ian Blair said about the Soham murders but I can see where he is coming from. People are brutally murdered or assaulted everyday and don't get even a mention in the papers. The murders of Holly and Jessica were terrible crimes and deserved to get the coverage they did but there are crimes of equal or greater significance going under the publics radar because the media don't think it'll sell papers.
But at the end of it all is that the fault of the media or the public? Is it our fault that we mainly want to hear the latest celebrity gossip rather than what is happening in our world.
It's true the media don't report maybe every thing they should but on the flip side are we all so shallow now we don't want to read about it?

Football Manager update.

2006-01-26T13:50:00.000+01:00

Well Friends it was fun while it lasted. I'm sad to report that last night I was sacked as Tottenham manager after apparently loosing the dressing room.
Dear oh dear. Admittedly the results weren't going my way but I'm a bit offended the players lost confidence in me. It was their lackluster performances that got us in this mess in the first place. I think blaming me was a way of deflecting the blame.
Well my time there was fun but screw em. Bastards..

Cannabis classification.

2006-01-23T12:45:00.000+01:00

This has got to be one of the stupidest debates and news stories I've ever come across. Some much space so much money, so much time wasted on what classification weed should be.
The government spending money on the first report into it by David Blunkett, Then even more money spent on it by Charles Clarke. Why? What difference does the classification of a Cannabis make. The already wide use of Cannabis isn't going to change because it's a B or C.
The reason given was confusion. The change had caused confusion in the public. What? From what I can tell the only people who are confused on this whole issue is the government. It made absolutely no difference to the public. Half the people who smoke weed won't have even known it's classification before the change and still won't know now and the other half just won't really care.
research into the drugs affects are needed I'll agree with that and I'm not saying the Cannabis is harmless but it's my view that while the we can watch some one drink them selves to death or smoke them selves to death and all while not breaking the law, we all can't go get a little stoned.
While some thing like alcohol is permitted by the government then attitudes towards weed are going to be hard to change. People see the damage Alcohol does to people every day. We see the damage caused by alcohol to property and each other yet these people are being influenced by a legal drug. A drug that's more addictive and has more side effects than weed.

The whole debate is pointless. People will smoke weed and no matter what classification it is they still will.

Why Football Manager 2006 sucks.

2006-01-23T12:19:00.000+01:00

I hate the damn game. I hate it. Why do I hate it? Because I can't do it. I'm not one of these people with unlimited patience. I snap easy.
I've just finished my 3rd season as Tottenham and I've seen exactly 0% improvement. No that's a lie, I finished 8th in my last season giving me the honor of competing in the Euro Vase. Which I lost in the final to Valencia and to be honest I wanted to win it.
I've got to have spent some where between 50 and 80 million in my 3 seasons and I'm not improving at all. My latest signing is Dutch midfielder Raphael Van der Vaart. I've got a good squad, I've got some excellent individual players but I can't get any consistency.
I was hopeful again at the start of this season especially after coming so close to my first trophy and only narrowly missing out. Then had a comfortable 2-0 victory in my first premiership game but then came 3 defeats on the trot and now I'm already feeling the strain.

In the last version of this game I took Tottenham into the champions league in my first season. I was in the hunt for the title every year, I went on to win the Uefa cup twice. While playing as Manchester United I went 9 years straight winning the league. I won the champions league.
I can't have turned shit in the few weeks between I finished playing 2005 and started playing 2006. There is only one answer. The bastards have made it harder.

Jarhead.

2006-01-20T11:14:00.000+01:00

I went to see Jarhead last night at my local multiplex. I went to this film with much anticipation, the trailer was probably one of the best I've ever seen and I'm a fan of Sam Mendes' 2 previous films, American Beauty and Road to Perdition. So I collected my tickets from the box office, free tickets of course, I enjoy certain privileges(Ohhh Yeah) I got my big ass bag of skittles and set forth to find my seat.

I do believe that the film company have slightly miss sold this film. The trailer and a few little spots I've seen have pretty much portrayed this as a war movie It's only now that people are seeing it that it comes out that it's not really any thing of the sort.
Jarhead is not a war movie, It's a film about soldiers, Marines to be accurate and what they did in the run up to the first Gulf war. Which was nothing. American sent close to 500,0000 troops to the middle east in the months running up to the conflict. The war lasted 4 days.
It's a psychological comedy drama. Showing the frustration these people go through. It's not an anti or pro war film, It's not an intuitions of the current US administration. It's told through the eyes of the average marine on the ground and rightly most of these people do not care for the politics. This is their job, this is what they have to do. The film comes in around 2hours running time but It was pretty clear to me that it was supposed to be longer. It was a shame because there was a notable absence of scenes and altough including these could have pushed it into the 2 1/2, 3 hour epic mark it could've also pushed this film into classic status. It could have been this decades Deer Hunter. (Very funny and heartbreaking scene involving a video of the Deer Hunter)

I liked it, it's darkly comic and interesting to see the mental strain these men go through doing nothing.
Don't go to see this film if you want a war film, this isn't it, don't go watch this if you want action, this isn't it. Go see this film if you want to see an entertaining and funny character study.
The cast are great and all put in good performances. I'd give it between 3.5 and 4 out of 5 but I'm not rating it so I can't give it any thing. I liked it though.

Football manager update.

2006-01-19T12:28:00.000+01:00

Not too much to report this time. Well not any thing good anyway. Didn't play at all last night and only a little the night before.
I'm sat in 8th after 15 odd games still not really out of reach of any position other that 1st really. I've been knocked out of the league cup already and suffered a 4-0 defeat at home to Newcastle. Not the heaviest defeat I've suffered but by far the worst performance. Most of my players received 4 out 10 ratings with a couple coming in at 3's. I had 2 players sent off and 2 penalties.

I don't really know what's happened to this up dated version. It's harder and I'm giving away nearly a penalty a game. I know a bad work man blames his tools but it really is more difficult, I swear.

Football Manger update!!

2006-01-17T12:12:00.000+01:00

It's that time folks. I know you've all been dying to know the latest goings on in my management career.

Well the main word to describe last nights efforts is inconsistent. I had some good results and some bad results. Most notable of the results were two 1-1 draws funnily enough.
First game a tough away game at Arsenal. In a tight game Rasiack put us ahead right on half time. Second half was tough a constant on slaught from Arsenal went unrewarding as my defense held strong. Strong that is until the 93rd minute when Ledley King brought Henry down in the area. PENATLY!!! Damn it. Lauren(yes Lauren) Stepped up and calmly slots the ball away. Gutted, but in the end it was a good result and a good performance.
Second game of note was hosting Chelsea. I was at home so I didn't want to go too negative but this cost me as Joe cole scored a stunning goal about 25 minutes in. But again in the tough games my team came good, a solid defensive performance was enhanced by the 65th minute leverler by Vincezo Iaquinta currently by best performing player.
Other wise I had some bad results and some pretty good wins but I'm not making a run out of any thing, winning or loosing. I need to put together three or four wins to really get the season going. I currently sit 8th but only 3 points adrift of 3rd.

One last little bit of transfer news. My latest signing who will join me in the January transfer window is none other than one Theo Walcott. Arsenal can't get him for 12.5mil but I got him for a cool 4mil. Another bargain I hope. I'll let you know how he gets on when January comes around.

Sex, the worlds sickest joke?

2006-01-17T10:58:00.000+01:00

Now I'm not a religious man. I don't believe in gods or a God. I may hold hope that there is something else after it all but deep down I'm pretty sure when it's your time that's it.
But now I'm having second thoughts about God. Maybe I'm starting to believe in God, well an old testament style fire and brimstone type God. The God that's full and mischief and vengeance. You want to know why?

Sex. I mean think about it who else but that sick fuck would be able to give us some thing so damn good yet so fricking dangerous. I mean there are diseases and infections embarrassing accidents and babies. And that's only mentioning the physical repercussions, the emotional ramifications can be enormous. Jealousy, obsession,hatred loathing(yourself and them) and vengeance.

Now out of all the things in the world surly sex can be seen as not just a random accident but a sick plan by God to give us some thing so good yet punish us for it.

God I shake my fist at you...

Venezuela's top toy

2006-01-16T14:56:00.000+01:00

This is Venezuela's best selling toy this Christmas.

It's an action doll of President Hugo Chavez. It comes in several varieties and has out sold all other toys in Venezuela. Fantastic.

Can you imagine a Tony Blair action figure. He'd just stand there in one of those power poses. Probably have a flexible waist and maybe with a pull cord so he'd say things like "Be gentle George."

All I know is I want one of these.

Football Manager 2006 part 2...

2006-01-16T12:18:00.000+01:00

So what to do with all that money?? Now I knew I needed to central defender to try and plug the wholes in my defence, I also needed at least one striker and 1 attacking midfielder. At the close of the season I lost Mido back to Roma and of course Defoe. My first stop was Juventus midfielder Gassbroni(Not even close to his real name, I'll check who he really is later.) What a bargain this fella is turning out to be. I managed to sign him on a free and with only 4 games or so gone he's looking very good indeed. Next through the door was a striker another Italian Udinese striker Vincenzo Iaquinta. At 9mil he's my most expensive acquisition but with a lively start to the season he's looking very good indeed. Already has goals in the back and is looking hungry for more. Next was Jean Alain Boumsong form Newcastle. At 3.5mil I thought this was a good bit of business. Boumsong has been strong on the game for a while now and is shaping up to being a nice purchase.

Next comes my last 2 signing both of which I thought I wouldn't land. First is Josemi form Liverpool a right sided to central defender. I'd had a bid rejected already and was about to give up until another club had an offer accepted. 1.5mil for this player is my bargain of the season. We'll have to see how he turns out in the long run but with stats like his I'll be expecting a lot.
Finally my most exciting signing. He's from the USA first off but don't let that put you off. One of the most exciting players in recent memory one Mr Freddy Adu is now plying his trade at White Hart Lane. 2.5mil or so is again a brilliant price for the 17 year old. Adu is good at the moment and I'm expecting him to be great in the very near future.

Now that we're pretty much up to date my next up date will be a little less wordy. That's the last word on Footie manager for today.

Football Manager 2006

2006-01-16T11:40:00.000+01:00

One of my favorite pass times is to while away the hours, days, weeks and months playing the above game. So in truth I thought I'd use this to fill up empty space in my blog. space that is free because I spend most of my free time playing this infuriating game. I recently got my hands on the updated version so much excitement and not a lot of sunlight later and I've just started my second season in charge of Tottenham. In this first part I'll just give a rundown of my first season and movements in the run up to the beginning of my second season.

So first season wasn't much cop to be honest. I ended up finishing ninth after a promising start, up to third at one point. 9th might not seem like a brilliant position but it was good enough to earn me a 2 year extention to my current deal. Top scorer with 20 premiership goals was of course Defoe. My main problem in the first season was my inability to finish games we leaked goals like there was no tomorrow and could never hang on to a lead. Biggest surprise of the season was (in real life, rubbish) Rasiack who turned out to be a good solid player notching up the most assists for the season.

So 9th it was. I needed to make some changes. Defoe had got mardy and decided he didn't want to be at tottenham anymore so I sold him for 15.8 million to yes you guessed it Chelsea. I didn't want to but he left me no choice and they were the only ones willing to to pay that money.
With Defoe gone and some money in my pocket I went searching.

TBC

Judas and the Daily Mail

2006-01-13T14:32:00.000+01:00

Some thing else that caught my eye today was a report that the Vatican, Daily Mail and Express are trying to clear Judas' name claiming Jesus would have been lost with thousands of other middle easten prophets, if not for the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. Now it's no surprise to me to see the Daily Mail side with Judas, it's pretty much what I expect from them but what I have found surprising is that I may well agree.

Judas was a pawn, a Patsy it sounds like he was used by Jesus so Jesus could die and be resurrected. It just seems unfair that Jesus knew Judas would betray him but still let him get close, still let him get in a position where he could betray him. I mean why the hell would you keep a guy around who you know is going to give you away and lead you to be nailed to a cross.
Judas has since become a big symbol of evil and human weakness but if you ask me Jesus or God have a lot to answer for. Humans all suffer from weaknesses, whether it be women, power or money this is why, we're told, Jesus died on the cross. But isn't it pretty bad to get a guy you know has a weakness for money, befriend him, let him into your inner circle and make him feel part of the team all so he'll betray you and then you can then die a horrible death to save the human race.?
Jesus knew what Judas was about and he let him carry on regardless. After the betrayal Judas killed himself, he couldn't cope with the grief of what he'd done and in my eyes that's Jesus' fault.
If Jesus knew what was going to happen he could have sent Judas away or just not told him where he'd be that fateful night. Jesus was calculated in what he did, Judas was just weak, weak like the rest of us.

Bad news for the Hoff

2006-01-13T12:14:00.000+01:00

It's a sad day my friends. Friday the 13th has struck once again. According to several reports The actor, singer and all round dude David "The Hoff" Hasslehoff is divorcing his wife part time actress Pamela Bach. Married for 16 years the couple are citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce.

I my self wish the Hoff all the best in the future and I'm now sure we'll see him shacked with some German loverly very soon.

It Begins....

2006-01-12T16:10:00.000+01:00

Well I say "It begins" but this is about my third attempt to start a successful blog. So spured on by my collegues saying "join the cool kids or you'll be shunned" I've taken the big step of trying again.
I'm not sure what this whole thing is going to be like put hopefully it'll become a cultural phenomenon and I'll become a cult hero.