#92; Looking Forward to Goodwood 2010

Woohoo!! It’s that time of the year again where I start to get all excited and childishly hyper regarding the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed. The festival opens up on Friday (well, there is a moving motorshow on Thursday but the proper thing occurs from Friday) and I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am for it. There’s some really big names attending this year, with the likes of McLaren’s World Champion duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton whilst Webber, Hulkenburg, Trulli, Chandhok, Kovalainen and many many more will be there. And that’s just F1! You’ve got motorbikers, supercar drivers, touring car drivers, rally drivers, and so on and so on, from past and present… ah the bliss. The total bliss. Love it.

As for myself this will be my second year of attendance at Goodwood Festival of Speed, as you may not know I wrote up my feelings after getting back home last year. Please do give it a read as I very much enjoyed my time there, and it only adds to the excitement of returning this year. For me Goodwood itself is such a special event especially for a Formula 1 fan as I am. The sport we follow now is very much encapsulated in a world of glamour and level of class so high above us ‘normal people’ it is near nigh impossible to interact with the people that make Formula 1 so amazing, and this is our chance to take a much closer and personal look. Its such a fantastic event no matter which motorsport you follow and as I say, with just 2 days till I head off to the south of England I just cannot wait.

Throughout this post I’m including several photos as I’m sure you can see (or else WordPress has messed up!). These are my own photos from my Flickr that I’m more than happy for you guys to take a look at as I’ll be adding to these this year with my brand spanking new digital camera! (Cheers mum!) If you’re going to Goodwood this year then please do say hello if you know what I look like (I’m sure this ‘amazini’ photo from an inebriated brithday will help) as I’ll be there all three days with my loely girlfriend enjoying the sights and sounds of this marvelous festival!

So, it’s nearly here then. What am I looking forward to this year? Well there are some people I definitely, absolutely want to meet – Mika Hakkinen, Ant and Crofty, Jenson again as well as Karun Chandhok and Heikki Kovaleinen just to name a few – and apparently this years Williams’ F1 car will be on display so there is a chance I can see Rubens’ car!!! Eeeeeeeek!!! But there are many many different amazing cars that will be on display and one of my favourite things about last year was just strolling through the event looking at these absolutely gorgeous motors from all over the world and being part of this mindblowing atmosphere. It really is a fantastic feeling.

Hopefully I’ll see you there if you’re going! And if you’re not… well, maybe 2011 then? Go on, you know you want to!

I should probably mention I was wearing a Brawn GP cap when Horner popped over. Oops.

"The Big Bang" – Ending with Perfection

Goodness gracious, we all know that Doctor Who can produce some massive finales but this one really was something else for plenty of different reasons. The whole series has been building up to this finale, with even seemingly-filler episodes having meaning to the whole story arc with the crack in time and it was just fabulous how well this series ended. Having Steven Moffat at the helm for writing this finale after last week’s quite stunning cliffhanger definitely added to this finale for me, but I’ll go more into that later. For now, let’s just see why this was easily my favourite finale so far in modern Who.

So last week we ended with the Doctor trapped, Amy dying and the universe ending with the Tardis exploding. How on earth can you come back from that? Simple – by very clever writing, clever writing which was actually perfectly understandable as the episode went on and stuff that geniunely made me go ‘ohhhhhh!!’ out loud when you realised. I adored how the Doctor managed to go through time back and forth to Rory and the Museum, and the little continuity they had going between the two scenes despite them occuring at different parts of the episode. It just worked to tremendous levels and was a joy to watch as the story grew.

There were just so many genius little things included throughout the episode that made it so lovably brilliant. For me, Rory was properly back in this episode. I don’t care if it was an Auton or whatever but he was definitely, definitely Rory and the story of him staying with the Pandorica was actually enchantingly sweet. It took me a while to work out how he stayed alive for 2000 years (he is an Auton still, after all) but it was a great little side story of the love that has grown between Rory and Amy. Even the fine little details were immaculate – the countdown to 26/6/10 worked in real life as well as the episode as yesterdays broadcast date was indeed that of the end of the universe so called date. Not quite the Mayan calendar but still!

The story itself was all set to be totally confusing after last week’s cliffhanger, but it really worked fabulously and most of all, it made sense. We also had River Song further pushing herself into as hugely prominent Doctor Who character and it’s clear for me that Moffat has big plans for Song in next year’s series – she is definitely his Captain Jack to what Jack was to Russell T Davies. Moffat himself was the key person for making this finale so wonderfully enjoyable though as well as the story and actors of course. It wasn’t over-packed, it wasn’t a finale that wanted to throw in as many stories as possible with not enough time, it was a sweetly told story and an arc that closed up with possibilities that lead into stories for the future. Just the fact alone we have the same line up with companion and doctor as well as a story arc leading into 2011′s series is credit alone to the strength of the writing this year and the strength of Matt Smith and Karen Gillian. Just pure awesome from the two of them in 2010 and the whole series, but especially in this finale.

So yes, I loved it. I really did very much love it. There is so much to talk about and I fear I’ve missed a lot out but it was just absolutely fantastic with so much more to come. Doctor Who returns at Christmas and I’m already excited for it but what a way to go, with everything that should’ve been wrapped up done so with plenty more to come. It was written fabulously, it was smart and funny (I can always buy a Fez…), it was very very sweet with the Doctor and Amy’s life and I just loved it. Absolutely wonderful.

Pros
+ It was a truly incredible finale and did everything it needed to
+ Very very sweet and storytelling was fantastic
+ The way the episode unfolded was very smart and was very different!
+ Nothing like previous finales on modern Who, such a refreshing finale and very happy throughout!
+ Rory is back properly!!! Hell yes!!!
+ River Song further confirmed how strong of a character she is

Cons
- No Doctor Who till December! What will I do with my Saturday evenings now?!

So another series is done and what a series. Soon enough I’ll further analyse the high and low points of the past 13 episodes, my favourite moments and worst, and lots more. Stay tuned!

#91; And The Results Are In…

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Ahem.

The relief, the absolute total relief. After all of these months, many moaning twitter posts and frsutration at dissertation and assignments, the results have been given back to me and as you can see I’ve passed my course with a 2:1 grade (equivalent to a B for those that don’t have that scale of grading). I can’t begin to even start with how much relief and delight I have for this, it’s just finally done and dusted and the target grade I wanted I managed to reach so I’m just…. overwhelmingly delighted. Being nervous and waiting for these results is such a nasty feeling but to get a 2:1 is just totally fulfilled what I wanted. Phew.

Just to give  bit of clarification – my university grades from F1 (not the sport, sadly) to A16 with every grade going up every 4th mark up. Whilst all of those grades indicate the results from the various modules I did during my final year, the most rewarding and uplifting result was to see that my dissertation had resulted in a B13 grade, a high level B that I am seriously delighted about. A friend had a dissappointing result regarding his dissertation and I got told this before I knew mine – this made me incredibly worried if I’m honest because I thought he did a really good piece of work and deserved a far higher mark so I must admit my own mark caught me off guard. On the other hand, people who know me will hopefully know how hard I worked over 2010 to make sure that my dissertation went well and tried to include as much effort as possible so this is a huge relief to know it paid off.

Anyways, there is the next big step now whatever that may time. Time to celebrate as graduation isn’t until September and time to find a new job to start my life as a qualified graduate. Wooooooooohoooooooooooo!!!!!

#90; Surprise Surprise!

So Glastonbury has arrived once again and as always it’s looking like a right treat. Some of the headliners include the fantastic Gorillaz, filling in for the injured Bono and his merry men known as U2, as well as the legendary Stevie Wonder and a band you may have heard of too – Muse. I remember them! In all seriousness though I noticed a little quote the other day from Dominic Howard when talking about Muse’s headlining gig tomorrow night that has piqued my interest:

Drummer Dominic Howard said the guest collaboration would be “very, very special”, but refused to be drawn any further on the subject.

“If it comes off, it’ll be a huge moment for Glastonbury,” he told The Sun. “It will take it to a whole new level for us.” – Courtesy of MuseLive

Oooooooh!! A surprise!! I do love a good surprise and if Muse have a surprise up their sleeve I have a feeling that it will be something quite epic. But what on earth could they do next at this headlining gig? During the stadium tour Muse are currently going through they have a UFO flying around the crowd with someone coming out of it (sadly not Balloon Boy) as well as Matt dressed up in an LED suit with the Ministry-esque set behind them creating a warped design staring down on the band…

Photo uploaded by Lyrks on Microcuts - Click image to view source page

…so this has got me wondering what it could be. What we need is Cilla Black to bring us this surprise but alas, those rocking Devon madmen will have to do I suppose. Here are a few ideas:

• Muse are going to perform an encore with an orchestra, playing the full Exogenesis Symphony for the first time ever. This seems the most likely option for me and I’m expecting this, as it would be quite incredible.
• Matt Bellamy is going to collaborate with Lady Gaga, with the two performing a mashup known as Supermassive Telephone.
• The band have been performing Back in Black a few times this year, so AC-DC/Brian Johnson will make a surprise appearance to perform the song together with Muse.
• The entire performance will have a circuit act happening around them or the band will perform the entire gig on a stand flying  over the crowd for 2 hours. Either this or a little 11 inch stonehenge will be lowered onto the stage with midgets dancing around it. Strangely enough I can see this happening. It did last year.
• Freddie Mercury will collaborate with Muse. That’s right, you heard me.

It could be anything knowing Muse but I’m gonna go for the Exogenesis surprise. That would be amazing. What do you guys think it will be? Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be amazing. The last time Muse headlined Glastonbury, many wondered why they were there but they came onto the Pyramid Stage and performed, even to this day,one of the greatest performances you’ll see from the trio. It was quite something else.

Let’s hope that tomorrow’s gig will be just as incredible.

If you’re in the UK, it will be broadcast live on BBC2 from 22:45. Definitely worth watching.

#89; Wondering about Wimbledon

The picture didn't have a new roof so I gave it one. It may not like this in real life but they missed out with this trick.

It’s that time of the year again where the strawberries come out to play with the cream and the drinks, and the white shirts and shorts are put on with the headbands and the tennis rackets. Yes, it’s Wimbledon time! Woohoo! Goodness, there’s so much sport right now but it’s gooooooood. It’s all good. See I do love Wimbledon because it’s all so quintessentially British isn’t it? We all get so fussy about those lawns and the weather but it’s awesome. Problem is, I am a bit rubbish remember stuff with Tennis.

I do actually really like the sport – it makes for good neck exercising if you’re sitting in the middle. The umpires must have necks made out of steel, I tells ya. One thing that I love about tennis is the umpires sitting really high in the air, because they’re in charge and they’re the man! Or woman, of course. But I love the power they have looking down on their peasant players appealing for their innocence for a ball hitting a bit of chalk. Ah it’s all good.

There are definitely things in tennis that confuse me a lot though I must admit. Like I don’t understand why the people keep changing the side they are on every few games. Football is easy because the players are like… “Well, we did this end, let’s try yours” but in tennis they seem so undecided swapping over and over back and forth like  sporting merry go round. Can’t they stick to their own side and stop confusing me? Another thing is break points – I just don’t know what these are! It’s crazy! I saw a guy earlier get a break point and I wasn’t sure why, I never am sure why, but because of Anna Kournikova’s Smash Court Tennis on the Playstation 1 I just assumed it was because I hit someone with a ball and broke them. The umpires must have a terrifying life with those little green balls being smashed at them and shouting FORE!! and OUT!!!. I bet they would make fantastic F1 marshalls. CRASH!!!

I wonder if he eats british or canadian bacon?

Tennis is a funny old game though isn’t it? The players seem to really get in the zone when they run about screaming and crying out really loudly. My favourite tennis player was definitely Greg Rusedski because he was a Canadian guy pretending to be British – we’re rubbish at sport Greg, you lunatic! I asked my girlfriend last week whether he was entering Wimbledon in 2010 and sadly, he has been retired for many years (damnit, Greg!) and now commentates according to the BBC website but I still think he could go out there and beat the current crop of players including Roger Federer, Unknown first name Nadal and Kovacj Djokovic (I’ve forgotten his first name too but I gave it a go) and the rest of the tennis roster. Go Greg Rusedski!

I’ll be keeping up with Wimbledon though over at Sidepodcast including writing the odd post for them as they follow the tournament day by day with new threads in which I may write one or two so I hope you can join us. I can only apologise in advance for my awful knowledge of general Tennis… tennis.